Australia pulls some athletes from Olympic opening ceremony

Monday 16th June, 06:08 PM JST

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serindipity at 07:16 PM JST - 16th June

Photochemical smog takes a bit of getting used to. They should make them stay there. It's that damn fresh air in Oz that has made them weak. Terrible stuff it is!
jpdrag0n at 07:34 PM JST - 16th June

some14some...thats why billions of people in china suffer from respiratory diseases...not breathing normally.
gifu at 07:42 PM JST - 16th June

I don't understand all these sudden reactions to the Beijing Olympics. The International Olympic Committee chooses to have the Olympics in a terribly polluted city that is the capital of a Communist dictatorship and people seem surprised that it is terribly polluted and that it has a government with a repressive government. Why the sudden surprise? The Chinese have certainly been consistent.
Betting at 08:06 PM JST - 16th June

I understand that there are concerns about athlete's health, so people don't want them to participate in the opening ceremony. But if that is truly the case why expose them to these same conditions in events where their bodies will be sucking in so much more of this polluted air? Won't being exposed to the same air under these conditions be more damaging? Or is it just a case of, "It's only a little bit so it won't hurt, and there is all that Olympic gold to think of at the end"?
himasan at 09:33 PM JST - 16th June

Having to wear face masks everyday doesnt seem normal to me, some14some
OssanULTRA at 01:01 AM JST - 17th June

Well either every country that gives a hoot about it's Olympic team should follow Australia's lead and pull out of the opening ceremony....or everyone should just wear gas masks or something. Of course the Chinese govt will have to make it illegal to giggle when seeing this.
rajakumar at 03:14 AM JST - 17th June

some14some-52 days only for games, there is really great excitements in sports coming, in 52 days. This concerns over beijing air, is really due to fickle mindedness, of people of the world. Asians may not host again for another 8 years, we must glad that China as a developing nation, is chosen as 3rd asian olympic host.
Smythe at 03:57 AM JST - 17th June

Actually I am surprised it took this long for something like this to spring up & I believe some others might do the same. After all think of what some, accustom to clean air, will suffer in many of the track & field to the other events of where breathing is of such importance.

Personally when ever I visit the city of Greater Vancouver B.C. Canada my eys start to sting & I must keep on blinking my eyes. Breathing is nothing like where I live in being basically quite clean air.
tclh at 06:30 AM JST - 17th June

Well ,breathing Beijing air during opening ceremony will win you no medal .Breathing(because you have to) the same polluted air during competition may earn you some kind of medal.Gooood Luuuuck.
TeruSensei at 09:36 AM JST - 17th June

I don't think it is very fair on the athletes. It should have been a personal decision rather than an enforcement handed down by the AOC.

If I was an Australian athlete I would be pissed off. Probably a fair few will never get the chance to be involved in an Olympic opening ceremony again.
thepro at 02:33 PM JST - 17th June

Beijing always looks disgusting when you see it on the news. You can see the reporter surrounded by just grey mist.
timorborder at 04:29 PM JST - 17th June

I hear that the JOC have ordered that all the Japanese members march in the opening ceremony. The toxic atmosphere will then be used as an excuse when Japanese competitors start to "choke" in their respective events.
soothsayer at 05:31 PM JST - 17th June

I don't think it is very fair on the athletes. It should have been a personal decision rather than an enforcement handed down by the AOC.

Actually, I think you'll probably find that the athletes were given the chance to vote on the issue. That's what can happen in a democracy.
OssanULTRA at 09:19 AM JST - 18th June

"Asians may not host again for another 8 years, we must glad that China as a developing nation, is chosen as 3rd asian olympic host."

After what everyone from the IOC to corporate sponsers have had to go through, I'd be surprised if China is chosen again for another 50 years. Or at least until they have already been "developed" for some time.
PepinGalarga at 10:30 AM JST - 18th June

As if Hong Kong would have any less pollution than mainland China. The Pearl River Delta is one of the most industrialized areas in China.

if anything, they should have trained under high altitude conditions to simulate the poor air quality, so then there will not be any excuses later.