Olympians face tough opponent: pollution

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eat an orange. Wear a face mask. Train elsewhere and fly in at the last possible moment to compete.

These are some of the strategies suggested for Olympic athletes planning to compete in Beijing, where a thick cloud of smog often blankets one of the world's most polluted cities.

"There really isn't anything specific you can do to acclimate to substandard air quality," said Darryl Seibel of the U.S. Olympic Committee. "From a training point of view, there's nothing we've found that an athlete can do without risking their health and well-being."

The U.S. teams expect Beijing's air to reach a "safe and suitable standard for elite competition," Seibel said in a telephone interview from Colorado Springs, Colorado, home of the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

He did not think athletes would need to wear activated carbon filtration masks, as U.S. coaches advised in a newsletter article in 2006, and as U.S. triathletes did on a visit to China last year.

But he did not rule anything out.

"Until we arrive at the games in August, there's no way to predict what the air quality will be."

It is likely to be hot and humid. The average August temperature in Beijing is 85.1 degrees F (29.5C), with relative humidity of 69 percent. This combination puts Beijing's heat index in the "caution" range, U.S. sports officials have said.