Newswise — Athletes prepare and train for the Olympics by stressing sameness explains Michael Brown, Ph.D., associate professor of kinesiology and exercise physiologist at Temple's College of Health Professions.
"Athletes thrive on routine, so coaches will work to maintain their athlete's sleep patterns, training patterns and eating habits," he said.
Brown says several factors could affect the performance of an athlete — for instance, the time change.
"Athletes are used to training for events at certain times, but now they have to perform 12 hours earlier than they normally would. So their coaches must arrange for early arrival and adequate time to reset their biological clocks."
He adds that the pollution in Beijing could affect the performance of some of the distance runners and swimmers.
"Smog has been a growing concern of many of the athletes, and has caused one athlete in particular [Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie] to refuse to participate in his standout event, the marathon," he said.
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