Beijing Olympics: Is an Oxygen Tank a Banned Substance?

What was the International Olympic Committee thinking when they chose Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games?

News today that Ethiopian world record-holding marathoner Haile Gebrselassie will not be competing in the marathon at the 2008 Olympics. Gebrselassie has asthma, and is concerned that the air pollution in Beijing during August will be a threat to his health.

By most accounts, China has made giant strides to complete venues and have everything ready for competition quite early on. (This is in contrast to the Athens games, where the Olympic Stadium, if I recall correctly, was finished roughly three months after the games finished. ) In theory this leaves lots of time for China to clean up its air . Certainly IOC President Jacques Rogge seems optimistic, but I suppose it is in his best interest to put on a brave face. My guess is we won't see his brave face much in the telecasts from Beijing, due to the little white mask over it, filtering particulate airborne matter so he doesn't die.

I guess the case could be made that having the Olympics in Beijing will bring attention to the indomitable spirit of humanity in the face of environmental crisis: look what they were able to do in just six short months, so they could make a financial killing! And there will be much rejoicing. I certainly hope the emphasis during those heartwarming personal interest stories
this August is on the pathetic state of China's environment before the Olympics, and the inevitable slide back to that following the Olympics. Does anyone really believe the Chinese government is going to keep the coal fire plants shut down? The minute the ramp pulls away from Bob Costas' plane, Hu Jintao will running around to all the coal plants with a lighter, firing 'em up. As an American, criticizing China's energy policies is kind of hypocritical: people who live in greenhouses shouldn't throw stones, and all that, but forgive me if I'm skeptical of China's newly-found "Green" identity.

But an even bigger piece of China's credibility gap comes from their civil rights abuses. Again, a citizen of the U.S. (Happily Waterboarding Since 2002!) has little to say about how China treats its citizen and immigrants, both legal and illegal. But China has, for so long, shown wanton disrespect for human rights and free thought that rewarding this behavior with the Olympic Games just doesn't pass the straight face test.

I suppose it is possible that infusing a country with the spirit of brotherhood inherent in the Olympic Games will lead to wholesale changes in policies and attitudes. I want to believe that desperately, but history just doesn't bear that out. Berlin, 1936. Moscow, 1980.

"The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play."
-Pierre de Coubertin, from the Olympic Charter

Color me skeptical that China has seen the light and is operating under these premises.