BEIJING (AFP) — China's foreign minister on Wednesday dismissed athletes' fears about Beijing's pollution and touted the city as an ideal venue for breaking world records at this year's Olympics.
"I believe the air quality will only become better and better in Beijing," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said when asked about running eat Haile Gebrselassie's plans to skip the Olympic marathon because of pollution worries.
"Most athletes who are coming to Beijing are satisfied and have confidence in the air quality, environment and sports facilities in Beijing," Yang told a press conference. "They have full confidence in these conditions."
Gebrselassie, arguably the world's greatest ever distance runner, has made it known that one of his future ambitions is to break his own marathon world record.
"One thing you can't argue about is that many athletes have broken world records in China, notably in Beijing," said Yang.
"So I think that if the world's athletes can't break world records in other places, they should come to Beijing, perhaps they will have a better chance here."
The 34-year-old Ethiopian, an asthma sufferer, said this week he was planning to skip the marathon in Beijing out of concern that notorious pollution in the Chinese capital could damage his health and even bring his career to a premature end.
He has instead set his sights on the 10,000m.
International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge has also expressed concern about air quality in Beijing and warned that endurance events such as the marathon could be postponed if pollution posed a threat to competitors' health.
China says it has spent 16 billion dollars over the past decade on improving the environment and air quality by shifting polluting factories out of the capital, raising car emissions standards and other measures.
However as that money has been spent, thousands of new cars have piled on to the roads each week while industrial output has expanded.
Beijing plans to ban around half the city's three million plus cars from the roads during the Games, and surrounding cities and provinces will join in the anti-pollution fight.
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