Sunday’s OTL to Examine Beijing Air Pollution Issues

Sunday’s Outside the Lines (9:30 a.m. ET ESPN; noon ESPNEWS) will examine how air quality in Beijing may hinder athlete performance and record-breaking potential in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Triathlete Matt Reed struggled on the Olympic course last September in a race that nearly a quarter of the 85 athletes competing failed to finish, while some American boxers got so sick after a short jog in Beijing last November they opted to train by running through their hotel hallways.

 Bob Holtzman reports from China that Beijing has some of the world's worst air pollution, and last year the government reported just 246 days with acceptable quality, an improvement from about 100 in 1998 although skeptics suggest the improvement may be a result of alterations made to the testing system.

Holtzman also reports that the USOC will issue a mask to all American athletes, urging them to wear it from the time they arrive in Beijing until their events.

Bob Holtzman reporting in China Credit: ESPN/Arty Berko

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 (Bob Holtzman reporting, Sun Weide (Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee), Randy Wilber (USOC physiologist), Matt Reed (triathlete)

“It’s (Beijing’s air quality) significantly worse in terms of visibility, pollution concentration than anything we would experience in Los Angeles on its worst day at any time in the year.” -- Randy Wilber, USOC physiologist

“You go out for a jog or a run, and you come back and you blow your nose, and you don’t think about it, and then there’s all this black pollution that you’ve blown out of your body.” -- Matt Reed, triathlete

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