Maybe the pros should skip the Olympics

Air pollution in Beijing and how it affects performance.

http://scienceofsport.blogspot.com/2...-olympics.html

http://scienceofsport.blogspot.com/2...ution-and.html

http://scienceofsport.blogspot.com/2...ng-part-3.html

"Just one more story I picked up on in the news in the last couple of days - apparently, in September last year (which is only a few weeks after the Olympics will end this year, so weather conditions are much more similar than for the Beijing Marathon in October), Beijing hosted a pre-Olympics Mountain Bike event, to serve as a trial run for the Games.

"Well, 50 cyclists started the race, and a grand total of.......EIGHT athletes managed to finish, most dropping out, in part due to oppressive heat, in part due to difficulty breathing! It's apparently difficult to differentiate between the two - very hot and humid air is certainly difficult to breathe (if you've ever been in a steam bath, you'll relate). And we received a great comment with some personal experience from Jamie, which you can read below in the Comments section - he was in Beijing last August for a test event on the rowing course. His report? Heat and humidity were significant factors, but the pollution not so noticeable."

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

I watched a snippet on Headline News covering Beijing's attempts to "show" the world they are cleaning up their air. Supposedly, they have moved the air quality registers further away from the pollution. That is one way!

Working for a mostly international company (80% of our revenue is from ex-U.S. business), I know our salespeople and others who have visited Beijing say it is horribly polluted.

Frankly, the pollution is just one reason not to go. Tibet, Sudan, & Iran would be others.

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"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." -- Wayne Gretzsky

To boycott JO, it's a bad idea. Better to take part and to carry a Tibet flag or something like that.
I went in China 3 times since 2002. I have met a girl who was at Tian Anmen during tthe riot. She is a writer and has one book which can not be published currently. She told me that the current leader (Jintao) want to reform China. The current chinese situation is similar to pre-perestroiska in USSR.
In France some people are saying that officials should boycott the opening ceremony.

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6 +2 (according Ashenden) samples with EPO should have banned Lance Armstrong to start next TDF !

I agree. Go and take place but make your protest at the opening/closing ceremonies or on the podium. Like the black gloves worn at the '68 Olympics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Ol...k_Power_salute

Anyway, the media is controlled by the government. So, basically they can put any spin they want, right?

A couple of pictures to show the point:




Part of the problem is that the prevailing winds are such that it not only traps the air around Beijing, it also brings pollution from other parts of China. So, even if the contribution from Beijing is brought down significantly, the concentration of pollutants in the air doesn't decrease that much.

One more image to show how the air quality can change in Beijing:

In Beijing there is blue sky only when the north wind blows significantly. At least than 50km there is a lot of industries like metallurgie, cement industry,... and electricity producing with coal.
Chinese governemnt wants to stop close Beijing factories during next JO. Will it be enough?

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6 +2 (according Ashenden) samples with EPO should have banned Lance Armstrong to start next TDF !

I saw a tv program about seeding rain clouds. Planes fly through clouds with a seeding agent which forces the moisture in the clouds to stick together and then fall as rain. Apparently its a technique used in many parts of the world for crops etc. Russia used this after Chernobyl to force the radiation in the clouds to fall on Belaruis(?) so that it wouldn't get to Russia. I reckon this will occur before the games start and this will washout the pollution.
I also heard that coal burning plants will be shut down just before the games that are down wind of the games