Running is bad for your health - in China at least...

With the 2008 Olympics in Beijing mere months away world marathon record holder Haile Gebreselassie has ruled himself out of competing in the event as he fears that pollution in the city makes it too dangerous for him to run.

In fact pollution in the city is so high that spectators have been warned to only take limited exercise while visiting the city.

One wonders what the IOC were doing in the first place awarding the games and shipping the cream of the worlds athletic talent to a city that is so hazardous to health. Hardly in the olympic spirit now is it?