8B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019
OLYMPICS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2008
Pollution may affect Beijing Games
Olympic Committee, athletes complain about high levels of air contamination
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING — With the Olympics six months away, air pollution is taking some luster off the glistening venues and the meticulous planning aimed at controlling every facet of the Beijing Games.
Athletes and coaches are talking openly about the dirty air. Dozens of countries are setting up pre-Olympic training camps in Japan or South Korea. The powerful American swim team is basing itself far away in Singapore. There are plans to test facemasks — if not in competition, at least during training and leisure time.
Beijing has struggled to reduce the sooty mix of ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide that often blankets the city at a level five times higher than the World Health Organization's
safety standard.
"It's not easy",
acknowledged
Deng Yaping,
the four-time
Olympic gold
medalist in table
tennis and the
deputy director
of the Athletes'
Village, which
will house 17,000
willers and offi-
top female athlete of the 20th century.
"I'm sure we will make every possible effort to make a cleaner environment for all the athletes."
cials. "The environment is not easy. And it's not short term so that you can see the results."
Officials aren't saying how they'll solve the problem when the games open Aug. 8. Factories will close, dust-spewing construction will slow and more than a million vehicles are sure to be banned. The one-party state will surely marshal its vast resources or risk a public relations disaster.
"If there are serious problems, of course ... it's better not to come," Halle Gebelsseliae said on a visit this week to Beijing. "My priority if just to live and keep my health."
A member of the Communist Party and the government's top advisory body, Deng said the pollution was a "world problem." Like many Chinese, she pointed out that Olympics in Los Angeles and Athens were also prefaced by pollution fears.
But not everybody is convinced including the world's greatest distance runner.
"They (organizers) are trying to
The marathon world record holder said he it's possible he may skip the Olympics. If he comes, he's undecided whether he'll run the marathon or the 10,000 meters.
"I'm sure we will make every possible effort to make a cleaner environment for all the athletes," added Deng, who was voted China's
DENG YAPING
Deputy director of Athletes' village
do something.
That's OK," he said. "The pollution is the most important thing. Actually, when we talk about the pollution, it's not only during the Olympic Games, What
about the people here? They are really suffering."
Olympic tennis champion Justine Henin pulled out of a tournament in Beijing five months ago because the pollution aggravates her asthma, and she may avoid the games.
Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica, the defending Olympic 200-meter champion and world 100-meter champion, explained her strategy on a visit.
"Just stay away until it's really time to start competing," she said.
The International Olympic
Committee has pressed China for months to solve the problem, and president Jacques Rogge has warned that some endurance events would be postponed if the air is bad.
"A number of contingency plans have been outlined and some air quality data reported to us," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. "But we are still encouraging the organizing committee to share further data with us so that we can gain a deeper understanding of the efficacy of the plans."
Davies said recent test events had been held "without any major complaints or incidents." However, this is not completely accurate with several boxers, cyclists and triathletes having griped about the air.
"We have reason to believe that the issue, although challenging, will be managed appropriately by our Chinese hosts," Davies added.
The Olympic equestrian venue is Hong Kong, which also has bad smog as well as stifling heat and humidity. The Swiss dressage team has said it plans to stay away, and Canadian and German riders have talked about pulling out.
No one disputes the grandeur of the venues and Beijing's astounding $40 billion facelift, which includes new roads, subway lines and a myriad of skyscrapers. The $200 million National Aquatics Center, known as the Water Cube, opened last week to rave reviews.
One of the few criticisms was the see-through honeycomb facade, which showed the grit from the city pollution.
"The pool's out of the world," high-ranking IOC member Kevan Gosper said "Youd think it was sent in from another planet."
The final venue to be completed will be the iconic symbol of the Olympics — the $485 million Bird's Nest national stadium that opens this spring. The 91,000-seat building is a soaring steel wicker basket that symbolizes China's 21st century ambitions.
"How to serve the athletes, how to serve the media and how to serve so many spectators. That is the hardest work rather than building the venues," said Deng, who most likely will be one of the final torchbearers and may be among the favorites to light the caldron.
The games should produce perfect TV abroad, showing the country's power and growing wealth. On state-run TV at home — which never shows bad news about the Olympics — the games should appeal to Chinese national pride.
A new multibillion-dollar airport terminal opens in a few months, a gargantuan glass and steel structure to wow Olympic visitors. A new airport subway line will also open for the Olympics. So will a new line serving the venues, and another curving north-to-south through the city.
Despite promises to the IOC to improve human rights, Beijing has continued to detain and sentence high-profile political dissidents. The 30,000 journalists expected are also coming under scrutiny, as are government promises of unfettered access to report.
"Beijing has given virtually no signs that it intends to keep the promises made to the international community in exchange for hosting the games," said Sophie Richardson, a spokeswoman for Human Rights Watch. "On the contrary, we have witnessed a systematic effort to silence, suppress and repress Chinese citizens who are trying to push the government into greater respect for fundamental rights."
Chinese officials have become prickly to criticism, saying the games should be free of politics.
"China has made resolute commitments for the Olympics and, as
host, we will conduct a successful Olympics Games," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said this week. "Meanwhile we should keep in mind that China has its laws and regulations... China is a country ruled by bullets."
The challenge of finding enough Chinese who speak English also is a problem. So is the quest to make the games uniquely Chinese — while retaining an international flavor
China's generally secretive police agencies are tightening visa requirements, doing more spot checks of foreigners and working on tight security. Besides terrorists, China also wants 'to stem protests by activist groups critical of Chinese policies regarding Sudan, human rights, religion and the environment.
Weather officials are even claiming they'll be able to make it rain — or clear the air and prevent rain if it threatens the opening or closing ceremony.
— and preparing for the unexpected.
"Before a table tennis competition, I always had to think what my opponent would try to do and what solution I will find," said Deng, the four-time gold medalist. "So I would find 100, 1,000 (tactics). If something happened, I had a way to solve it."
"I think that will be exactly the same for our preparations. We have to predict. You think there is no chance something will happen, but we have to find a solution even if it doesn't happen."
And there are only six months to go.
》 NBA
Phoenix Suns guard Marcus Banks, left, drives to the basket past Philadelphia Teers defenders Kevin Ollie, center and Shavik Randiph, right, during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game in Phoenix on Nov 17, 2006. The Phoenix Suns acquired quarterback O'Neal in a stunning, blockbuster deal that sends four-time All-Star Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat on Wednesday.
O'Neal confident with transfer to Suns Nash not preoccupied with O'Neal's injury
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX — Shaquille O'Neal had strong words for those who doubt he can fit in with the Phoenix Suns.
O'Neal, once the game's dominant big man but now slowed by a hip injury, said he is motivated by the negative talk.
"I'm very upset," he said Thursday at a news conference to introduce him as a member of his new team. "You just don't really want to get me upset. When I'm upset, I'm known to do certain things — like win championships."
"This team has always been there in the Western Conference," he said. "They just couldn't quite get over the hump. I think with my experience and my on the court-off the court leadership, I can help them get over the hump."
Asked what he felt when he heard he could be going to Phoenix, O'Neal said, "I wanted it to happen because I was going to be coming to a fabulous team with a lot of unselfish players, a lot of great players."
The crowd went crazy. The message he was sending on the big screen at the Phoenix-New Orleans game was clear. He intends to bring to Phoenix the championship that has eluded the Suns through their 40-year history.
The trade that brought O'Neal to Phoenix on Wednesday is one of the most unexpected in NBA history, a blockbuster that sent Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to Miami and came together in just a few days
On Wednesday night, he was smiling. He stood from his seat in a suite high above the court at US Airways Center. He pointed to his ring finger and gave a thumbs up.
MIKE D'ANTONI
Phoenix Suns' head coach
O'Neal was out for two weeks with a hip injury but cleared his physical Wednesday and hopes to play before the All-Star break.
can't run," he said. "But I love to run, especially if I'm playing with a great guy like I'm Nash. I look forward to making people eat their words, I really do."
under first-year Phoenix general manager Steve Kerr.
"We feel like our players are giddy with the possibilities,and he's ready and focused.
The criticism has been widespread from fans to talk radio hosts to newspaper columnists. All claimed that Phoenix had acquired a oncegreat big man far past his prime, a 7-foot-1, 325-pound Goliath who would stifle the Suns' trademark uptempo game.
And the Suns were taking on a contract that pays O'Neal $20 million each of the next two seasons.
Nash was "shocked" by the trade.
"If you look at what happened he last 24 hours it was incredible,"
"We feel like our players are giddy with the possibilities," D'Antoni said, "and he's ready and focused. It's up to the coaching staff to do the tweaks without changing everything, and I don't think we have to."
Yet coach Mike D'Antoni and the Suns players said they were elated, that they believed O'Neal would be reinvigorated by the move and become a crucial component of their title run.
he said. "You go through a whole bunch of emotions. It was very unexpected, but at the same time to get a chance to play with Shaquille O'Neal is pretty exciting."
The Suns believe whatever ails O'Neal can
be cured by their doctors and training staff.
"It's a matter of flexibility in the joints and different things," Kerr said. "They're very progressive with their rehabilitation and they felt very strongly that he's going to be more mobile and explosive than what he has been."
Nash is well aware of questions concerning O'Neal's health.
"There's doubts and a risk to everything," Nash said. "I know that's going to be a favorite talking point for all the media, but for us the talking point is we've got an incredible, huge, talented, charismatic player in our locker room now. ... This sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun."
O'Neal's ability to lift spirits is another plus for a Suns team that seemed joyless despite its success.
THE SAVAGES
"I think the Big Aristotle is going to be fun for us," Nash said. "He has a great personality and he is one of the most exciting, charismatic players we have had in this league in a long time."
FRI: (4:30) 7:00 9:25
SAT: (4:30) 7:00 9:25
SUN: (4:30) 7:00 9:25
JUNO
FRI: (4:40) 7:10 9:30
SAT: (2:10) (4:40) 7:10 9:30
SUN: (2:10) (4:40) 7:10 9:30
O'Neal averaged 25.6 points and 11.5 rebounds in 16 seasons in the NBA. This season, plagued by injuries and going through a divorce, he's averaging 14.2 points. His 14-year streak as an All-Star choice came to an end this year.
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He missed much of the 2006-07 season with a knee injury and finished that season with career lows in games (40), scoring (17.3 points), rebounds (7.4), minutes (28.4) and free-throw percentage (.422).
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