奥运选手“备战”污染

Anyone wondering how convinced athletes are by Beijing's efforts to clear its smoggy air for the Olympics need only check their travelling luggage.

Despite years of official reassurance, many of the top teams will be packing breathing accessories or timing their arrival for the last possible moment. Haile Gebrselassie, the asthmatic holder of the men's marathon world record, has withdrawn from the event in Beijing though he still plans to compete in the 10,000m.

The Russian Olympic Committee says its strategy is to keep athletes indoors as much as possible and several teams wil be doing final training in Russia's far east instead of Beijing. The committee's Gennady Shwets said air pollution in Beijing was “certainly an important factor for our national team”.

Australian track and field athletes will put off their arrival until the second week of the games. Most Australian Olympians will fly into Beijing three days before the start of the games from training camps in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Darwin, with about half the athletes expected to attend the opening ceremony.

“They feel they can't train in Beijing,” said Mike Tancred, of the Australian Olympic Committee. The squad will be looked after by 80 medical experts, the biggest medical team Australia has taken to an Olympics.

David Martin, an exercise physiologist working with American marathon runners, said the sheer quantity of pollution in Beijing set it apart from any prior summer games, adding that the combination of pollution and humidity would set athletes a “double whammy”.

US runners will stay in the seaside city of Dalian to acclimatise and then travel to Beijing three days before competition.

Jarrod Shoemaker, a member of the triathalon team, is planning to wear a special filter mask developed by team doctors to keep particulates from building in his lungs before his race. “It'd be naive to say there will be no pollution. But the problem is that it's one thing as an athlete you can't control,” he said.

Robert McCormack, the Canadian Olympic squad's chief medical officer and a former runner, said pollution levels had improved significantly since his first visit to the region. “I got over there and I couldn't run because the air was just horrible,” he said.

As well as taking a supply of masks, team Canada will bring air purifiers, asthma puffers, eye drops, nasal sprays and throat lozenges to help with the side effects of poor air. Japan's Olympic team has ordered 500 industrial-grade cloth face masks.

The British Olympic Association believes heat and humidity rather than pollution will be the principal factors affecting performance.

Scott Drawer, of UK Sport, said squad members were taking some pollution accessories, however. “They are breathing devices, which help filter particulates,” he said. “They are training devices, they are not for competition. If things get bad, I'm sure events will be postponed.”

Air quality monitoring should give the International Olympic Committee a forecast of pollution levels three days in advance, according to Jacques Rogge, its president: “That would allow us to prepare things.”

“I think the athletes' concerns are legitimate. There is pollution in Beijing,” he said. China's response to pollution worries was “still a work in progress”, but officials were doing “everything they can” to cut pollution.

Some Olympic teams are not as bothered about the pollution threat. Kenya, whose 37-strong track and field team includes four reigning world athletics champions, is relaxed. David Okeyo, secretary-general of Athletics Kenya and chef de mission for the country's Olympic athletics team, said: “I don't think [pollution] is a big issue. They [the athletes] love to adapt to whatever the situation is.”

对北京为奥运而努力净化污浊空气而言，如果你想知道运动员们有多大的信心，只需去检查一下他们携带的行李。

尽管中国政府多年来一再为空气质量做出保证，但很多顶级运动队仍将携带呼吸器具，或者尽量安排在最后一刻抵达北京。患有哮喘病的男子马拉松世界纪录保持者海勒•格布塞拉西耶(Haile Gebrselassie)已退出北京奥运会的该项赛事，但他仍计划参与1万米项目的争夺。

俄罗斯奥委会(Russian Olympic Committee)表示，他们的办法是尽可能让运动员待在室内，而且将把几支运动队最后的训练放在俄罗斯远东地区，而不是放在北京。该委员会的根纳季•瑞特斯(Gennady Shwets)表示，北京的空气污染“对我们的国家队来说当然是个重要因素”。

澳大利亚田径运动员将抵达时间推迟到奥运会第二周。澳大利亚多数奥运选手都将在奥运会开幕前3天从位于吉隆坡、香港和达尔文的训练营飞抵北京，预计只有约半数运动员出席开幕式。

澳大利亚奥委会(Australian Olympic Committee)的迈克•坦克雷德(Mike Tancred)表示：“运动员觉得他们无法在北京训练。”澳大利亚将有80名医疗专家随队，是该国历史上最大规模的一支奥运医疗团队。

与美国马拉松运动员一起工作的运动生理学家戴维•马丁(David Martin)表示，北京的空气污染物净含量使之不同于以往任何一届夏季奥运会。他补充道，污染物与潮湿合在一起，将给运动员以“双重打击”。

美国的赛跑选手们将留在海滨城市大连适应环境，然后在距比赛开始前3天前往北京。

美国铁人三项选手雅罗德•休梅克(Jarrod Shoemaker)打算佩戴一个由队医开发的特制过滤口罩，以避免把颗粒物吸入肺中。他说道：“认为北京没污染的想法是幼稚的。但问题是，这件事不是一个运动员能够控制得了的。”

加拿大奥运代表队首席医务官罗伯特•麦科马克(Robert McCormack)以前曾是一名赛跑选手，他表示，自他首次访问该地区以来，空气污染已显著改善。他说道：“那时候，我到那里后简直无法跑，因为空气太可怕了。”

除了提供口罩，加拿大队还将携带空气净化器、哮喘喷雾剂、眼药水、鼻喷剂和咽喉含片来减轻恶劣空气的副作用。日本奥运队已订购了500只工业级的布质口罩。

英国奥林匹克协会(British Olympic Association)认为，影响运动员发挥的主要因素将是酷热和潮湿，而不是空气污染。

但是，“英国运动”(UK Sport)的斯科特•德拉维尔(Scott Drawer)表示，队员们携带了一些空气污染防护器具。“这些是呼吸设备，用于帮助过滤颗粒物。”他说道。“这些器具属训练设备，不会用于比赛。如果情况变得糟糕，我相信会推迟赛事的。”

空气质量监测系统会提前3天向国际奥委会(International Olympic Committee)提交一份污染等级预测。国际奥委会主席雅克•罗格(Jacques Rogge)称：“这将让我们有所准备。”

罗格表示：“我认为运动员们的担心是合理的，北京确实存在空气污染。”中国对于这种担心的反应是“工作仍在进展之中”，不过官员们正在“尽其所能”降低污染。

有些奥运代表队并不担心污染威胁。肯尼亚由37人（包括4名现任世界冠军）组成的强大田径队就对此不以为然。肯尼亚体协(Athletics Kenya)秘书长兼该国奥运代表团团长戴维•奥凯约(David Okeyo)表示：“我不认为（污染）是个大问题。无论环境怎样，他们（肯尼亚运动员）都乐于适应。” （实习编辑：顾萍）