Beijing Games Lost in a Haze?

There was the news this week that cars were being pulled off the streets in Beijing to try to improve the badly polluted air ahead of the Aug. 8-24 Games. Toronto shooter Avianna Chao, who was born in China and will compete for Canada at the Olympics, will undoubtedly be glad to hear that.

The Canadian team's environmental physiologist, Dr. Jon Kolb, said back in March he was more concerned about humidity than pollution. But Chao, who was in Beijing with her coach/boyfriend Patrick Haynes and mother, Lien Chao, for a World Cup event in early May, isn't so sure.

Here’s Chao she had to say about the pollution then:

“That’s somewhat scary. I’m hoping it gets better in August, but I don’t really know how because it’s only going to be warmer. Just the haze.

“When we first arrived, we thought it was fog – or I thought it was fog. Patrick was like ‘Omigod, look at the pollution!’ I actually got angry at him because I’m like ‘Why are you being so judgemental, sort of defending China a little.’

“And then after three days, I was like ‘You know what, Patrick, ummm, I hate to admit it, I think you were right. It doesn’t look like fog, it hasn’t cleared in three days.’

“Some people said in the spring it always gets like that, because I guess there’s some mountains nearby and stuff flys in and kinda gets trapped in the mountains. I don’t know.

“The first week I would say I was not quite comfortable and I was worried about getting sick. But then you kind of get used to it.

“I certainly don’t envy the people living there. You can just tell from the cars on the road. They all have this film over them. There are no cars that are sparkling clean. You think ‘That’s what the cars look like. What do my lungs look like?’”

Watch Lopes in Action: If you want to see Whitby hurdler Priscilla Lopes, featured in the Star today, and a number of other top Canadians compete in last week's Harry Jerome Track Meet in Vancouver, you can find highlights of the action here.