Beijing has a major pollution problem that Chinese officials don’t seem quite as able to control as they do their citizens, and I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for a totalitarian, communist government.

But, guess what, after decades of doing nothing about pollution, a few weeks or months (or however long they’ve implemented restrictions on pollutants in the city), is not going to make one iota of a difference; which poses an enormous problem for athletes who have to use their lungs in order to do whatever it is they came to do. Try breathing shallowly when you’re participating in any kind of sporting event. I can guarantee you won’t win. And considering pollution can be as harmful to your lungs as smoking, I would be very concerned if I was an athlete, and apparently some of them are. But not only are they having to deal with the potential health hazards of the Beijing smog, they’re also now having to concern themselves with anything that might be construed as being critical of the uber-paranoid Chinese government, which is ultra sensitive about practically everything. Like the American cyclists who showed up at the Beijing airport with masks they had been given as protection. This, of course, caused a huge commotion, and the cyclists issued the following apology:

“The wearing of protective masks upon our arrival into Beijing was strictly a precautionary measure we as athletes chose to take, and was in no way meant to serve as an environmental or political statement,” the athletes said. “We deeply regret the nature of our choices. Our decision was not intended to insult BOCOG or countless others who have put forth a tremendous amount of effort to improve the air quality in Beijing.”

Note to any future bidding countries:

Make sure you clean up your air years in advance of the Games.
Get it right on human rights.

China still has a very long way to go with both those issues, but it’s a little late now.