The environmental conditions at Olympic venues held in major world cities have been receiving more and more attention over the years, especially worries about the negative impact of air pollution on sports performance and the health of competing athletes in venues like Athens, Beijing and London.
With poor air quality remaining a major public health problem in many cities, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a new report* aiming to encourage countries to take more actions that will reduce the negative impact of air pollution.
Ambient air quality has improved considerably in the last few decades by a range of measures to reduce harmful air emissions. However, there is convincing evidence that current levels of air pollution still pose a considerable risk to human health.
