Athens: The Irish Olympic medical team has been hampered by a lack of specific information on air pollution levels around the team village in Athens.
According to medical director Dr Seán Gaine, the Athens 2004 medical team is working on the presumption that pollution levels in the Greek capital will be at their highest level in mid-afternoon.
"We have advised the athletes to choose early morning and late evening to train.
"Both particulate and gaseous/ozone pollutants should be at their lowest at these times," he said.
Air pollution can hamper the respiratory and cardiac systems of athletes and reduce their performance.
All participating teams were promised a website with graphs of the levels of pollution in the city, but the information never materialised.
However, last summer, Dr Giles Warrington, an exercise physiologist with the Irish team, measured heat and humidity levels in Athens.
"In some ways, the asthma sufferers in the squad will be like the canaries in the goldmine and will alert the rest of the squad if pollution levels rise," Dr Gaine told The Irish Times.
Some 12 per cent of the 49- strong squad have asthma and are likely to develop symptoms such as shortness of breath and wheeze before the other team members, should air pollution become a problem.
"We have advised the athletes [to stay\] on a diet that is high in antioxidants," Dr Gaine said, adding that this nutritional advice should help combat the effects of pollution.
Athletes travelled to a pre-Olympic training camp in Limassol, Cyprus at the weekend, accompanied by two doctors and an exercise physiologist.
In Athens, as well as the main medical team in the Olympic Village, a back-up team of physiotherapists, an exercise physiologist and a sports psychologist will be based in an apartment close by.
In the village itself will be Dr Gaine, Dr David Fegan, an infectious disease specialist, three physiotherapists - Marie-Elaine Grant, Aidan Woods and Johnson McEvoy - and a sports massage therapist, John Sharkey.
Dr Gaine, who took up the voluntary post as medical director to the Olympic team some 18 months age, is a consultant respiratory physician at the Mater Hospital.
The Olympic Games will be held in Athens from August 13th to 29th.