The emergence of China as an economic superpower

According to the Shanghaiist, a few of the Olympic's high caliber athletes are pulling out (and nothing to do with Tibet, thank God). What they blame now is the pollution, the smog problem that engulfs Beijing 24/7. Marathon world record holder Haile Gebreselassie said that he would not compete (not exactly true, as we'll see later) in Beijing for health concerns (he has asthma). This is after an intense battle between whether he can or cannot opt to not compete. Then Justine Henin, one of the world's best female tennis player and a defending Olympics gold medalist, said she will might have to forego the Olympics for the same reason--pollution. Not exactly surprising, because she also canceled her plans for the China Open last September. Will more people follow suit?

Gabreselassie says yes. But this is after he tells the media again (in a flip-flopping, John Kerry kind of way) that he will participate in the Olympics, just not the marathon. So what will he do, sit on the sidelines? No, instead he will compete in the 10,000 meters race, a race that is four times shorter than the marathon. Also, and perhaps the real reason for its appeal, is the fact that the event will occur in the late afternoon, when the smog is relatively less. Or maybe he just wants to participate in order to save his "sportsmanship" reputation, who knows.

In a sense, Gabreselassie is right. Recently, Andy Roddick expressed that he would not go. Funny thing is, he'd rather play for himself than play for his country: as reported by Yahoo! Sports, "the highest-ranked American tennis player is skipping the Beijing Olympics, choosing instead to focus on preparing for the U.S. Open by playing at the hard-court Legg Mason Tennis Classic." He's out to win Washington for another Grand Slam title, and there's no stopping him (apart from losing out on the gold medal). Therefore, yes, Gabreselassie is right, to a certain extent. Yet according to the International Olympic Committee, pollution will most likely affect road cycling, mountain biking, marathon, triathlon and road walking events. So why are all these tennis stars quitting?