Gebrselassie plans to miss marathon due to pollution

March 10, 2008

As we get closer to the 39th Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, more concerns are surfacing about the pollution from burning coal in China. Coal fired energy creates deadly pollutants such as SOx, NOx, CO2, and mercury. Many officials and governments are very concerned about how these pollutants are going to affect the health of the competing athletes and the quality of the games themselves.

The following is the relative information from the article “Gebrselassie misses marathon due to pollution” by Tsegaye Tadesse.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie said on Monday he would not compete in the Olympic marathon because of fears that Beijing's air pollution would damage his health.

"The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42 km in my current condition," he told Reuters by telephone.

Pollution is a major issue facing Beijing in the run-up to the Games.

International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge said last year that events such as the marathon could be rescheduled if contingency measures did not have the desired effect.

Gebrselassie called on China to deal with the problem, saying that pollution "would be a hazard to athletes, seriously affecting their performances."

Rogge told reporters last November in New York that a monitoring system would be set up in Beijing to gauge whether air pollution warranted delaying events.

Events that involve endurance, such as the marathon or cycling distance races, could be delayed for a few hours or until another day, Rogge said.

"During a marathon for more than two hours, riding a bicycle race for five to six hours -- that could be a danger hazard and then we would postpone the race," he said at the time.

The full text of the above article can be found at the following website:

http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/32579