AUSTRALIA: July 29, 2008


BRISBANE, Australia - Australian athletes will be allowed to withdraw from their events at the Beijing Olympic Games if pollution poses a threat to their health and safety, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said on Monday.


AOC vice president Peter Montgomery said athletes had the freedom to pull out of events if pollution levels remained high but doubted whether anyone would withdraw from their events.

"For us the athlete's attitude to the event is paramount," he told reporters.

"If they don't want to compete that is fine. They will be under absolutely no pressure to compete if they feel uneasy or don't want to compete -- we won't be demanding that they still compete.

"It will be extremely unlikely that an athlete won't want to compete. Most of the athletes have been training for 10 years for this moment."

The Beijing Games open on Aug. 8 (Reporting by Andrew Stevens; Editing by John O'Brien) (For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)


REUTERS NEWS SERVICE