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.”
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