Masking Pollution With Bullshit

Some members of the U.S. cycling squad arrived for the Olympic Games on Tuesday wearing black respiratory masks, apparently concerned over reports of unhealthy levels of air pollution in Beijing.

About half a dozen members of the team, male and female, were pictured wearing close-fitting face masks covering nose and mouth as they went through the Beijing airport. One was identified as Mike Friedman, a track cyclist who competes indoors.

"I suspect it was their choice, you would have to talk to them as to what prompted them to do this," said Darryl Seibel, chief communications officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee. "I will say this: I am not a scientist, but in my view that was unnecessary."

A cycling official tried to play down the incident which some Chinese may see as provocative. n "I don't believe there was any statement trying to be made," said Andrea Smith, spokeswoman for USA cycling.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said athletes have the right to express their opinions, but should not do so in the athletes' village or the sports venues.

Note: The Daily Dude has so far failed to see any significant coverage of the Beiijing pollution issue on NBC, and certainly doesn't expect to see this story covered on any GE/Universal media outlets. Even the Reuters story (where this story was picked up) concluded with this silly exchange:

"The misty air is not a feature of pollution but a feature of evaporation and humidity," [an Olympics spokesman] said. [note from the DD: Chinese/IOC officials like to bullshit reporters with the story that Beijing's toxic pollution is just "humidity"]

One Olympic rowing competitor said she rather enjoyed the humidity, comparing it to gliding through a steam bath.

Update: The four US cyclists who wore masks over their nose and mouths over pollution fears when arriving in Beijing apologized Wednesday to Olympic organizers, US Olympic Committee chief executive Jim Scherr said. Mike Friedman, Bobby Lea, Sarah Hammer and Jennie Reed were among about 200 athletes from an American delegation of 596 who were issued masks by their US sport governing body to combat pollution in Beijing.

"They've now seen how their actions have been perceived," Scherr said. "They were very eager to take the right action, which was to apologize to their hosts."

The perception that Beijing's pollution, which prompted a shutdown of factories and reduction in auto travel during the Olympics, was so harmful that Olympians needed masks on arrival was seen as a slap in the face to organizers. "You never want to go to somebody else's place and cause any embarrassment and in this case some of them did," said USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth, who said the cyclists apologized without prompting from US Olympic officials. (note from DD: yeah, right.)

Update #2: It looks like hypocrisy is not just limited to Chinese Olympic officials-- the USOC is now turning on its own athletes. The New York Times is reporting that the United States Olympic Committee had issued the specially designed masks to protect athletes from the potentially harmful air here. In fact, the USOC's lead exercise physiologist, Randy Wilber, had advised the athletes to wear the masks on the plane and as soon as they stepped foot here.

“This is really a surprise, because I didn’t think it was going to be such a big deal,” Friedman (one of the athletes that was forced to apologize) said. “Why we wore the masks is simple: pollution. When you train your whole life for something, dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s, why wouldn’t you be better safe than sorry? They have pollution in Los Angeles, and if the Olympics were in Los Angeles, we would probably wear these masks, too.”

But U.S.O.C. officials were apparently unhappy with their choice, scolding the cyclists for walking off the plane wearing the masks because it might embarrass the host country, Friedman and Lea said. The cyclists said they did not remember the name of the official who spoke with them. “They told us that the Chinese were mad and that this is a politically charged issue, but we didn’t mean to offend anybody,” Friedman said. “When they handed us these masks, they never said, ‘Here they are, but don’t wear them.’ ”

Lea said, “It’s disappointing, because I was under the assumption that the mask was approved for use because it was issued by the U.S.O.C.”