Australian athletes to skip Olympic opening ceremony

According to the organization’s national performance manager Max Binnington, pollution levels in the host city have already affected athletes.

“We have had athletes come back from a recent test event and one athlete has got 10 days off training because of a respiratory problem,” Binnington told the ABC.

“We don’t want our athletes to be undertaking that sort of risk.”

Binnington said the move was sure to disappoint the Australian track and field Olympians but in the long term, they would remember their performances better than their marching.

He said the squad would watch the opening ceremony on television in Hong Kong.

The Australian Olympic Committee advised that marching in the opening ceremony was a matter for individual sports and coaches, the ABC reported.

The level of air pollution in Beijing and its effect on competitors have received criticism in the lead up to the games with Ethiopian world record runner, Haile Gebrselassie pulling out of the event because of health concerns.

The International Olympic Committee said earlier that air quality would be monitored daily and if smog levels become too high the dates of some events would be moved.