BERLIN, March 3, 2008 - Germany’s athletes are considering following the lead of their British rivals in using masks to counter the effects of air pollution in the build up to August’s Beijing Olympic games.
Race walker Andre Hoehne, 29, is one member of the German team who wants to use a mask - forbidden during the race - as much as possible in Beijing where pollution is reported to be 12-times higher than the World Health Organisation’s acceptable level.
The marathon course for the 19th Olympic Games will start in Tiananmen Square and finish in Beijing’s National Stadium.
The race walking event will be held at the National Stadium and will be a round trip on a 2km course at the boulevard on the Olympic Green with Hoehne planning to compete in both the 20km and 50km events.
I will carry a mask as much as possible before the race, in order to breathe fresh air,'' the German told tabloid Bilmnd on Monday. During the race, the masks are forbidden and such aids are only allowed during the warm-up.’’
The University of Exeter has developed special masks to filter pollutants from the air and protect British athletes as marathon star Paula Radcliffe has already tested them.
Gerd Graus, spokesman for the German Olympic Sport Federation said: We know that the environmental pollution will be a problem. Therefore, we will do everything for it so that the athletes have the best preparation before the start.’’
Canoeing Olympic champion Tim Wieskoetter says advice is being sought on how best to manage the pollution.
``We will have a seminar with a physician, who will explain to us…how we have to behave with conditions,’’ he told Bild.
But Beijing officials insist only last Wednesday the air quality is improving and will be safe for the Olympics, denying that statistics had been falsified to show pollution levels were coming down.
Beijing is one of the world’s most polluted cities and some of the 10,000 athletes coming for the August Games, including Ethiopian distance great Haile Gebrselassie, have expressed concerns about the health impacts of competing.
Did they not know about the pollution before they granted the oly to them? Sounds real stupid to me?