Following the decision of the Australian track and field team to skip the opening ceremony, the Canadian team is now following suit.

The team will be staying in Singapore until they are ready to move to Beijing. The Canadian coach says it is not just the problems with pollution.

“Not just because of the pollution, but because of the environment of training,” said Canadian coach Les Gramantik. “There’s only one track that you train at [in Beijing], it’s a relatively long distance and the traffic is always crazy. It’s just more peaceful in Singapore.”