China & the IOC Utilize Spin in an Attempt to Minimize Athletes’ Health Concerns for 2008 Games

The International Olympic Committee and the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) are doing all they can to minimize the fact that world-class athletes are beginning to pull out of the 2008 Summer Games for health concerns.

The story began nearly two weeks ago when Haile Gebreselassie, the current marathon world-record holder, announced that he would not compete in Beijing this August due to his concerns that air pollution in Beijing would permanently harm his lungs. (Gebreselassie suffers from asthma.)

Previously, gold medal tennis winner and four-time French Open winner, Justine Henin, had proclaimed that she would not defend her gold medal in China since the pollution would aggravate her asthma as well.

The decisions of these athletes notwithstanding (and the threat of other world-class athletes withdrawing from the Games due to health concerns), the IOC distributed on Monday, March 17 with the headline “IOC ANALYSES BEIJING AIR QUALITY DATA.”

The thrust of the release is that the IOC’s Medical Commission has been evaluating air quality data collected in August 2007 during a three-week period while international sporting events were held in 12 disciplines. Interestingly, the release said

“The findings indicate that, at Games time one year out, the health of athletes was largely not impaired. This finding is upheld by the fact that no health issues related to air quality were reported to the IOC by any of the team physicians who looked after athletes competing during the August 2007 test events.”

IOC news release, “IOC ANALYSES BEIJING AIR QUALITY DATA,” 3-17-08

Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC Medical Commission, expanded on this release in a interview with the Associated Press (and reported by CNN) when he said,

“In general terms I must say that I am sort of pleased really with the outcome of this analysis. We find that the competitions, although not necessarily under ideal conditions at every moment . . . will be good for athletes to compete during the Beijing Games.”

Arne Ljungqvist, Chairman, IOC Medical Commission, speaking to Associated Press on a conference call from Sweden

Looks good, right? Maybe; maybe not.

Here’s a list of the 12 sports included in the August 2007 “Good Luck Beijing” Sport Events:

1. Archery;
2. Baseball;
3. Beach Volleyball;
4. BMX;
5. Canoe-Flatwater;
6. Canoe-Slalom;
7. Equestrian;
8. Hockey;
9. Road Cycling;
10. Rowing;
11. Sailing; and
12. Wrestling.

So you tell me. With the possible exception of Road Cycling, which of these twelve test competitions held in August 2007 approach the level of aerobic requirements found in either tennis matches or a marathon? Exactly. None of them.

The BOCOG distributed its own news releaseyesterday to add its own voice to the efforts of the IOC spinmeisters.

Among other things, the BOCOG disclosed that the 2007 air quality data reviewed by the IOC was actually provided by the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau and not by independent testing organizations. (Typically not a big deal, except that the People’s Republic of China, and all governmental agencies within the ROC, are still under the totalitarian control of the Communist Party.)

Additionally, the release stated that

“. . . physicians for athletes who competed in the August 2007 “Good Luck Beijing” sport events did not report any air quality-related health issues to BOCOG or the IOC.”

BOCOG news release, “IOC official: Beijing’s air quality will continue to improve,” 3-18-08

Sounds great, except that few of the 12 sports listed above create anything approaching oxygen deprivation. So what type of reports were we really to expect from these physicians? Exactly.

No, at the end of the day the IOC appears to be bending over backward to not upset the BOCOG and to make it appear that air quality in Beijing is not something any athlete should be concerned about.

Here in the States, we call such efforts trying to “spin” the news.

A more direct definition is found online at Dictionary.com under the word “obfuscate:”

• to confuse, bewilder, or stupefy.
• to make obscure or unclear: to obfuscate a problem with extraneous information.
• to darken.

Yup, sounds exactly like what the IOC and BOCOG are trying to do — obfuscate.

And for that, both organizations land Sad Betty Awards from yours truly and The Betty Factor.

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