Jon Kolb, a former gymnastics coach, is a professor at the University of Calgary. He’s been spending a lot of time in China lately doing research on air quality in advance of the Olympics.
Specifically, Jon wants to advise coaches and athletes on how best to handle that environment.
Quoted in the New York Times:
… Mr. Kolb, the Canadian Olympic official, spent much of August in Beijing trying to answer the question hanging over the city as the Games approach: Has air quality actually improved?
An environmental physiologist, Mr. Kolb visited several stadiums, and sneaked into a few others, to measure pollution with a small monitoring device. On Aug. 5, his measurement of fine particles pollution, or PM 10, reached 200, roughly four times above the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization.
“We’re worried,†Mr. Kolb said. Of Beijing air pollution, he added: “There’s no doubt about it. It’s off the charts.†…
Beijing’s Olympic Quest: Turn Smoggy Sky Blue – New York Times
On the other hand …
Jon was there for the pre-Olympic test meet. A number of coaches and athletes who were there told me it wasn’t as bad as they expected. None that I spoke with noticed any problems during training or competition.
(via Beijing Olympic blog)
Gymnastics Coaching.com 