Masked answer to air pollution at Olympics

“We have to be extremely careful and steer them in the right direction because the mind-set of the elite athlete is to do anything it takes to get that advantage,” he said. “If they thought locking themselves in the garage with the car running would help them win a gold medal, I’m sure they would do it. Our job, obviously, is to prevent that.”

Wilber, a 53-year-old scientist based here at the US Olympic Training Center, has spent most of the past two years devising smarter, safer ways for athletes to face the noxious air in Beijing, one of the most polluted cities in the world.

To protect the athletes and keep their lungs clean, Wilber is encouraging them to train elsewhere and arrive in Beijing at the last possible moment. He is also testing possible Olympians to see if they qualify for an International Olympic Committee exemption to use an asthma inhaler. And, in what may be a controversial recommendation, Wilber is urging all the athletes to wear specially designed masks from the minute they step foot in Beijing until they begin competing.

His multipronged strategy could give the US team a marked advantage over teams from less prepared countries. But the plan has a downside: It runs the risk of offending the host country, creating political tension.

Chinese officials say the air will not be an issue when China’s first Olympic Games start on August 8. They plan to limit vehicle use, close factories and do everything in their power to bring blue skies to Beijing. Jacques Rogge, the IOC President, said he is confident the air will be clean because Chinese officials “are not going to let down the world”.

With the Olympics fewer than seven months away, scientists are sceptical about the air quality for the Summer Games.

Pollution levels on a typical day in Beijing, some scientists say, are nearly five times above WHO standards for safety. Two prominent athletes — the marathon world-record holder Haile Gebrselassie and the world’s No 1 women’s tennis player Justine Henin have expressed reservations about competing in the Olympics for fear that pollution will exacerbate their breathing problems.

Some athletes, who competed in Olympic test events last year, complained that the foul air made it difficult to breathe and caused nausea. Colby Pearce, 35, an Olympic hopeful in track cycling from Boulder said he saw smog floating inside the velodrome in Beijing.

Wilber’s USOC lab here helped design a mask featuring an activated carbon filtration system. He is secretive about the details, hesitant to show it or to have it photographed.

Roughly 750 to 1,000 masks, which cost about $20 to $25 each, will be part of the Olympic gear given to athletes. The masks filter 85 per cent to 100 per cent of the main pollutants, Wilber said, compared with paper masks, which filter 25 per cent to 45 per cent.

The IOC spokeswoman Sandrine Tonge said the international federation for each sport makes the rules on what athletes can and can’t wear in competition. So it is conceivable that some athletes will wear masks during their Olympic events, but Wilber said no Americans would do so.