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WASHINGTON, Mar 11 (OneWorld) - Air quality concerns in Beijing have prompted the world's record holder in the marathon to pull out of the premiere long-distance running event at this year's Olympic Games.

© kevindooley (flickr)Haile Gebrselassie, who has asthma, announced Monday that he would not risk his health by taking part in the 26.2-mile race in the Chinese capital, which is notorious for its poor air quality.

In Beijing, respiratory particulate levels have averaged three to four times U.S. safety levels, according to the Worldwatch Institute, a nonprofit environmental think tank. Hundreds of thousands are believed to die in the country each year due to outdoor air pollution.

China has made strides to improve pollution levels, in part because of commitments it made as part of its bid to host the Olympics. But the challenges it faces are daunting as a traditionally coal-reliant country with a massive population that is quickly growing richer, consuming more, and becoming more mobile.

About 1,000 new cars hit the streets of Beijing every day. By the time the Olympic Games begin on Aug. 8, Beijing's citizens will be inhaling exhaust from 150,000 more cars than registered today. Currently, 3 million automobiles ply the streets of the city of over 14 million people.

Beijing's Vice Mayor Ji Lin announced Friday that half the city's private vehicles will be banned from the streets each day during the Games, with enforcement based on the final digit of each car's license plate.

There are also indications that many of China's manufacturing and power plants will be shut down 30 days prior to the start of the Games, in an effort to temporarily clear the city's hazy skies.

But Chinese officials have largely recognized that longer term solutions are also needed, as the country's reliance on polluting energy sources poses unprecedented risks to human health and the environment.

China's rapid economic expansion has required tremendous amounts of energy -- to power factories and newly electrified households, for example -- most of which has come from coal-fired power plants that spew pollutants into the air as a byproduct of producing energy.

If China's coal burning were to reach the current U.S. level of nearly 2 tons per person, explained renowned environmental researcher Lester Brown in 2005, the country would use 2.8 billion tons of coal annually -- more than today's total worldwide production.

"Apart from the unbreathable air that such coal burning would create, carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning in China alone would rival those of the entire world today. Climate change could spiral out of control, undermining food security and inundating coastal cities," Brown added.

Recognizing the dangers, Chinese officials have invested heavily in cleaner burning sources of energy in recent years.

© Worldwatch InstituteChina invested around $10 billion in new renewable energy capacity last year, second only to Germany. Most of that went towards small hydropower, solar hot water, and wind power technologies, said the Worldwatch report "Powering China's Development."

A 2005 renewable energy law made the expansion of renewable energy a national priority, the report said, adding that China currently obtains 8 percent of its energy and 17 percent of its electricity from renewable sources -- shares that are projected to increase to 15 percent and 21 percent by 2020.

Gebrselassie's announcement that he will skip the marathon is the latest Olympics-related public relations difficulty faced by Chinese officials, who are known for being sensitive about their country's international image.

The film director Stephen Spielberg famously quit his position as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics last month, saying that China had not used its unique diplomatic and economic leverage with the government of Sudan to help end atrocities taking place in that country's Darfur region.

Human rights advocates are expected to publicly raise a host of human rights concerns with the Chinese government this year as the country prepares to host the world's premiere athletes, celebrities, and political officials for the Olympic Games.

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