Let the games begin...(cough)

I suppose this is a case of “If the standards don’t work for you, well, rather than try to adhere to them, change the standards.” I hadn’t really planned on doing a whole lot of Olympics-blogging but this one cannot be passed up. In this morning’s NY Times Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, is quoted as saying, “The fog you see is based on the basis of humidity and heat, it doesn’t mean necessarily that it is pollution.” I guess that means that if you call it fog instead of smog it must be okay and is safe for the athletes. The air quality in Beijing this morning was “soupy and gray” with the air quality rating reaching 95, which is acceptable in China (and their Olympics) but far short of clean air standards in the U.S. and everywhere else that monitors that stuff. I think Monsieur Rogge, and his Committee, should have been required to forego their nice, air conditioned limos and jog to the opening ceremonies, don’t you? Then maybe his quote would have been a little more realistic.

A professor at NYU School of Medicine said “a rating of 95 should have been a warning to athletes that the air was noxious and would probably affect some performances. Today the Chinese call it ‘good,’ but in the U.S, we’re in the ‘unhealthy for everyone’ category. This is very bad pollution; we’re talking about something that is nearly triple the U.S. limit for a given day.”

Wow, that must make the marathoners, the triathletes and the road cyclists feel real optimistic about their chances of even surviving, much less winning a medal. And, oh yeah, don't even think about wearing the mask given to you by your own individual sports organizations; that's considered an insult to the host country. Gawd forbid you should have any concern for your own health.

[A side note and probably another nail in the out-of-it coffin of my own personal appreciation of modern architecture: I think the stadium looks like a half deflated balloon being held down by a thousand random rubber bands. I would probably be more impressed if I saw it in person and could thus be overcome by its sheer size.]

Update, August 9, 2008: Wow! Those opening ceremonies were sumpin' else, huh? Spectacular on the tube and they must have been totally mind-blowing in person.