北京空气质量无损运动员健康

Air quality in the capital this August will be good enough for Olympians during the Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said after a study by its medical commission.

“We find that the competitions, although not necessarily under ideal conditions at every moment ... will be good for athletes to compete during the Beijing Games,” Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC’s medical commission, said last week.

The commission studied and collected data on the city’s air quality from an Olympic pre-run event last August.

Ljungqvist also said athletes would not need to compete with face masks, while those with asthma* would not need to take “any particular precautions or action” but would have to be aware of problems that similarly arise “in any place on earth.”

The IOC said four independent scientists conducted the study, using data collected between August 8 and 29 last year, a matching period to this year’s games, from the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau.

Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing environmental authority, welcomed the evaluation* as “reflecting the truth,” adding that the index of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, major pollutants in the air, had been effectively controlled within World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

“With previous efforts and temporary measures, there will be little doubt that the air quality during the Olympics will meet IOC standards,” Du said.