Yesterday was all about amusing myself and I posted lots and lots of fun stuff! However, today it is back to the more serious and perhaps mundane world of opinionated postings on all sorts of equally irrelevant "stuff".The Australian Track and Field team for the Olympics has been issued an order that prohibits them from marching in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The opening ceremony is undoubtedly one of the highlights and is part of the overall culmination of an athlete having achieved their ultimately goal of having been selected, not only to represent their country but also to represent their country at an Olympic Games.
The rationale for the ban is that Beijing is one of the world's most polluted cities and the athletes that march in the opening ceremony will be a risk for respiratory ailments that will adversely effect their performance in competition. This would seem to be a bureaucratic decision by over-zealous officials rather than a decision on the part of the athletes themselves.
However, the potential for some diplomatic fallout, particularly as no other countries have expressed any public concerns of dangers to their athletes from pollution, has seen some back-tracking and the current excuse seems to be that the athletes need a stable training environment. The question though is that the athletes have never needed a stable training environment previously that has resulted in the athletes being prevented from marching in the opening ceremony!
Yet, in fairness to the bureaucrats making the decisions, perhaps after having invested so much money into these athletes then it is only reasonable to protect your investment in order to maximize the returns. The picture is of Australian heptahlete Kylie Wheeler.
I am sure this will blow over.
3 comments:
Rob,
Don't under estimate the Chinese by the 8th August there may not be any pollution in Beijing. Clever bunch.
An another thing, I regularly take my finely honed body out in the Jakaratan "air",................. bugger maybe that's why I'm crook now. Crikey!!
The Olympic Games in Jakarta? Now that sounds like a plan for the future.
Maybe that is indeed the reason.
Not under-estimating the Chinese on any front. Apparently, the number of blue days in Beijing has increased from 100 to 246 over the last decade. That is an achievement in itself. Although, some sceptics have suggested the reason for this is that the Chinese have moved the measuring stations to less polluted areas. :D
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