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Endurance athletes won't be the only Olympic competitors casting a wary eye to the smog during next month's Beijing Olympics.
Canterbury trap shooter Graeme Ede said the pollution that threatens to envelope the Games may well play a role in his event, which takes place on the first two official days of competition on August 9-10.
During a World Cup event at the Beijing Shooting Range in April, Commonwealth Games champion Ede found the clay targets increasingly harder to see as they whizzed into the distance.
"They look a bit murky when they get out a bit," Ede told NZPA.
"They were disappearing a little bit on the first three days but then it rained overnight and cleared the air a bit."
Targets travel up to 75m when released from the trap but are usually shot by the time they travel 45m.
Agricultural contractor Ede, 48, said he had adopted some unlikely training habits to best prepare.
"Training in poor light conditions has probably helped me."
- NZPA
