Beijing Hit By More Pollution Concerns

Concerns over the air quality in Beijing for the upcoming Olympics have emerged again after the Australian team announced it would be skipping the opening ceremony due to such issues.

Athletics Australia has stated that competitors will stay in a Hong Kong holding camp until a few days before their events as opposed to traveling to Beijing for the 8th August opening ceremony.

Performance manager Max Binnington said: ‘Anything more than five or six days and athletes inevitably end up with some sort of respiratory problem. So many sports who don’t have to be there early are choosing not to go in.

‘As many sports have said, China presents difficulties for athletes going in and being there for a period of time. The outcome is that it’s almost impossible to go for the opening ceremony.’

The Australian Olympic Committee had said earlier that the decision to delay the arrival of some athletes was about logistics rather than health concerns.