Air fears bring athletes to Japan / Beijing pollution, food worries spur 20 nations to train for Olympics here

China's less-than-sparkling reputation for air pollution and food safety have led Olympic teams from 20 countries to plan to hold their training camps in Japan rather than in China in the weeks leading up to this year's Beijing Games.

Many top-class athletes from around the world are likely to be making their final tune-ups from Hokkaido to Kyushu this summer, despite having to pay more to train here than they would in China.
"Training here might cost a little more, but Japan has a proven record as a country where final preparations can be made for a major event because it has held such events as the world athletics championships," an official from one such country said.

Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States are among nations planning to hold training camps in Japan, according to the Japanese Olympic Committee and other sources.
Various teams from eight countries have settled on locations in Japan where they wish to make their final preparations for the first Summer Olympics to be held in Asia since the Seoul Games in 1988.

Sportsmen and women in events such as athletics, swimming and canoing will come to Japan in July and August to prepare for the Beijing Games, which open on Aug. 8.

Teams from many countries have had difficulty in securing training locations once they have moved into the Olympic village. Instead, they have opted to hold training camps for previous Games in the vicinity of the host city to help athletes acclimatize and to minimize problems with time differences.
But a number of factors are putting teams off from training near Beijing.
"I want to avoid the risk of a long stay in Beijing," said the coach of the Finnish rowing team on a visit to Kagawa Prefecture in November to sound out the possibility of holding a training camp there.
The Finnish canoe team also made an approach to the prefecture the following month, leading a prefectural government official to suggest that "competitors in outdoor events have got the jitters about the air quality [in Beijing]."

The manager of the British swimming team also reportedly told an Osaka municipal government official of their "anxiety" over air pollution and food in China.

Some national teams have decided to hold camps in the same locations as they did for last summer's athletics championships in Osaka.
The Finnish athletics team will be based in Marugame, Kagawa Prefecture, a city where nine countries held camps before the Osaka championships.
Ireland's athletics coach gushed about Matsue as a training location, saying, "Everything--the facilities, food and accommodation--was good."
Athletes from Germany who trained in Shibetsu, Hokkaido, for the Osaka championships were so pleased with the city that they chose to train there again.

"We could train in peace, which helped us put up a good performance," one competitor said.
The French judo team has decided on Tenri University in Tenri, Nara Prefecture, because of a connection with a coach who they had invited to come to France from the university.
Sweden plans to send 150 athletes in 19 sports to Fukuoka and nearby locations because "the stadium is in a forest, the conditions are similar to the host country and the athletes can relax there," a team spokesman said.
Officials from local authorities that will host the athletes are intent on getting their municipalities better known and hosting international exchanges.

"This is a chance to get the name of Fukuoka known across the world," a municipal official said. "I hope we can establish opportunities for residents of the city to see world-class athletes up close through open training sessions and other means."

The Osaka municipal government has gained the consent of the British swimming team to have its swimmers instruct local children.
Hokkaido will host this year's Group of Eight summit meeting at the Lake Toya hot-spring resort area in Toyakocho before the Games open this summer.
At a November party in a Tokyo hotel for ambassadors and officials of countries taking part in the summit, Hokkaido Gov. Harumi Takahashi handed out pamphlets from 17 municipalities hoping to entice Olympic teams to hold camps there.

Each of these municipalities is optimistic about the ripple effect of having teams based there.
"Even if we foot the bill for the athletes' transportation and use of facilities, there should be a big economic effect if recognition [of the city's name] increases," a spokesman for the Shibetsu municipal government said.
Even Hiroshima, which is yet to field any inquiries, has made preparations such as shelving plans for annually held competitions to secure training facilities, just in case athletes come knocking.

"We've prepared facilities and we have direct flights from Hiroshima Airport to Beijing," a city official said. "The competition for hosting training camps hasn't started yet."
As the Olympics draw closer, more and more countries seem likely to choose Japan as a base to prepare for the Games.