While the ideas presented do sound kind of like overkill - there may well be an advantage to it.
I used to live in LA when I was in my early 20's. I was really athletic and always out doing things. Every Sat morning I would take a 25 mile bike ride from Sherman Oaks thru North Hollywood / Burbank to the Griffith Observatory 'hill' (seemed like a mountain to me!) and back through Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks. We had a high pollution alert (SMOG Alert 3) that day advising children, elderly, and individuals with breathing problems to stay indoors. But I was young, healthy, athletic, and it was only a 2 two hour bike ride starting at 6:30 in the morning - that pollution kicked my butt - it hurt
to breath for two or three days.
I think it's a great idea to try and mitigate the effects of air pollution for the athletes. And NZ may have an ozone hole hovering above it, but the air there is delightful (I also used to live in NZ, near Auckland) and smells of fresh, green growing plants even in the cities.
Chaz
----- Original Message ----
From: Keith Bundy <kdaleb@wsu.edu>
To: NorthAmerican SoccerList <nas@americakicks.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 12:11:14 PM
Subject: [nas] New Zealand Olympic team
Interesting story - they seem to be
going to great lengths to try to protect their soccer players. But wearing
carbon filter masks to reduce the effects of polution? Special gel filled
cooling vests under the jerseys? Wonder if all this will have enough of an
effect to actually help NZ get some results. Any idea if the US fed is
doing anything similar for our players?