With the Beijing Olympics seven months away, the main concern of athletes is the air quality in Beijing, one of China’s most polluted cities. The athletes that will suffer the most are those who spend the most time outdoors – triathletes, marathoners and cyclists.

During a mountain biking event held in September 2007 last year, US cyclist Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, a 2004 Olympian, threw up midway through the race, according to a report in USA Today. Only eight of the 50 cyclists who started the race finished.

The US Olympic team is preparing to wear face masks wherever they go in Beijing and will only take them off at the start of the race, not because they don’t need them, but because they don’t want to embarrass their hosts, according to the International Herald Tribune.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said recently that events could be postponed if pollution is too bad.