Toxic air sickens 40 Chinese athletes

BEIJING – Forty Chinese athletes and coaches preparing for next year’s Beijing Olympics contracted fevers blamed on a germ-infested air-conditioning system at a training centre, state media reported yesterday.

Athletes including world and Olympic champions complained of fever, aches and pains and lack of energy when the epidemic broke out in January at the sports ministry’s own elite training centre here, the reports said. Some 960 athletes were training and living at the centre in southeastern Beijing, which has produced 783 world and 86 Olympic champions over the years, according to the report on Sohu.com and other newspapers.”I felt really cold.My bones ached and I trembled all over.I got better in a couple of days but then my teammates started getting sick one after another,” Athens Olympic weightlifting gold medallist Zhang Guozheng said.Aside from weightlifters, elite gymnasts and badminton players were affected, according to the reports.Nampa-AFPSome 960 athletes were training and living at the centre in southeastern Beijing, which has produced 783 world and 86 Olympic champions over the years, according to the report on Sohu.com and other newspapers.”I felt really cold.My bones ached and I trembled all over.I got better in a couple of days but then my teammates started getting sick one after another,” Athens Olympic weightlifting gold medallist Zhang Guozheng said.Aside from weightlifters, elite gymnasts and badminton players were affected, according to the reports.Nampa-AFP