U.S. Cyclists Arrive in Beijing Wearing Masks

For a while now there have been media reports about how the pollution situation in Beijing will affect the Olympic athletes. It's become a pretty controversial issue for many Olympic followers. Some groups believe this is a great opportunity for Beijing to be the host of the Olympics, while others believe that the pollution is such a big factor that it makes no sense to hold the Olympics in Beijing. Then there are other groups that view this as an opportunity for the pollution levels in Beijing to be put on display for all to see, while another says the pollution levels aren't any worse than that of Los Angeles.

For Beijing officials, its an important matter that the world have a positive impression of their city, so when the U.S. cyclists stepped off the plane and into the airport wearing US Olympic Committee issued masks just for pollution, its no wonder that it became headline news. Apparently U.S.O.C. officials were unhappy with the choice of the athletes to wear the masks and they were reprimanded for wearing them. But, I agree with the cyclists when one of the cyclists, Mike Friedman, said "This is really a surprise because I didn’t think it was going to be such a big deal. 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?"

Mike Continued to say "They have pollution in Los Angeles, and if the Olympics were in Los Angeles, we would probably wear these masks, too."

Yesterday I saw an article about Beijing's pollution and how a fencing athlete planned to deal with it. The fencing athlete said she wouldn't wear the mask unless someone else wore it first. Well, people had a field day with that statement. I have to also add that, ok, she's an athlete and that's fair enough, but cyclists put quite a heavier demand on their cardiovascular system than that of a fencer.

If I were an Olympic cyclist I'd probably be wearing the mask too. Why not? I see people wearing these types of masks a lot in Los Angeles. Ordinary people.