The US Olympic Committee (USOC) will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games, despite calls for a boycott, its chief of sport performance Steve Roush said yesterday.

"Certainly, we plan to be at the opening ceremony," he told China Daily by phone at the end of a two-week visit to Beijing to finalize Olympic preparations.

"We believe that participating in these Games allows for some great dialogue. And if not for that, maybe no dialogue would be going on, so we will not be a party to any of the protests," he said, when asked to comment on calls by some European politicians for VIPs to skip the opening ceremony.

"We find that boycotts are ineffective in producing change, and we don't plan to participate in any."

In reference to the boycotts of the Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics in 1980 and 1984, he said: "Nothing significant came from that but a whole generation of Olympians lost out on an opportunity to fulfill their lifelong dreams."

Roush said the improvement in Beijing's air quality and warming Sino-US ties were enough reason to support the Games. He described the negative media coverage of Beijing's smog as being "overblown".

"It is probably overblown to the extent that this is not the first time air quality has been an issue for an Olympic Games," he said.

"The same arguments were made in 1984. And when it came to the (Los Angeles) Games, it was magnificent. Air quality was not an issue and athletes were not affected."

Asked if he thought any American athletes were considering not taking part in Beijing, he said: "I have not heard one (US Olympic prospect) mention that."

Runner's decision 'hasty'

In another development, the Ethiopian ambassador to China said yesterday that world record holder Haile Gebrselassie's decision not to run the marathon at the Beijing Olympics was made in haste.

Haile-Kiros Gessesse said the Ethiopian Olympic Committee will not decide on the final list of the country's athletes until June, so the runner was "too quick" to make his decision.

"He should wait to see what the Olympic Committee has decided and should have consulted with them," Gessesse said.

The marathon runner, who suffers from asthma, reportedly said earlier this month that he was unlikely to run the Beijing Olympic marathon on concerns of air quality. But he did not rule out competing in the 10,000 m. Many Western media have used him as ammunition to attack Beijing.

The ambassador said the runner would "hurt the feelings of Ethiopians" if he does not change his mind because the Games relates to the honor of the whole nation.

"The air quality in Beijing is much better than when they decided to hold the Games here," the ambassador said.

(China Daily March 20, 2008)