There has been a lot of controversy of the American cyclists who arrived in Beijing wearing black masks. Like many things, they tend to get blown out of proportion by the media looking for a controversy to cover and the Chinese Olympic organizers taking any criticism of their country or the games to heart.

“Those athletes regret that action and have written an apology to BOCOG on their own behalf,” said Jim Scherr, chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee. “They now realise and understand how their actions were perceived by the host nation and by the organising committee”.

He added: “It probably wasn’t the most opportune time for these athletes to wear these masks. They were overly cautious.”

The four cyclists, “Mike Friedman, Sarah Hammer, Bobby Lea and Jennie Reed” were the focus of media reports around the globe.

They agreed to apologize to the Olympic hosts.

“We didn’t realize the impact that wearing the masks would have,” he said. “From our standpoint it was to take care of a perceived health risk. In reality it came across as offensive. We don’t want to insult BOCOG or the Chinese public.”

In their defense, much of the reporting of the Olympic games has been how bad the pollution is here. Is it not surprising they were at least a little bit worried? They probably didn’t realize the sensitivity of China and the waiting media at the airport.

Personally, I rarely get sick or catch colds, but often when I fly I seem to pick up some kind of air-borne virus when I travel. If I trained for years for a particular event, I probably would be taking any precaution I can.