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BEIJING -- Now I see what everyone is talking about.

Or, in this case, don't see.

The air was visible.

And everything else was a blur in the gray gauze of polluted air hanging over the city earlier this week.

The outlines of the Great Hall of the People were indistinct from the entrance to the Forbidden City -- which is across the street.

It was impossible to define the silvery gray superstructure of the "bird's nest" Olympic stadium against a sky of the same color on what was a sunny, summerlike day. (And Beijing calls the site of the 2008 Summer Games stadium, pool and gymnastics arena the Olympic Green.)

It was a big difference from my last visit, exactly a year ago, when an autumn rain had washed a lot of the gunk out of the air, and the sky was blue for several hours a day. Then, the only things that slowed my half-hour dawn runs were age and a recalcitrant Achilles' tendon.

In a half-hour of walking this time, my throat was raw and my breath was shorter. Run? Only with a portable oxygen tank.

No wonder International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge -- who normally is given to anodyne statements -- played spoilsport at Beijing's year-to-go party last month by suggesting endurance events could be postponed if air quality is too bad.

Rogge clearly was trying to pressure China into making good on its promise that the air would be better Aug. 8-24, 2008. The embarrassment of postponements is a formidable threat.

Chinese Olympic and government leaders say they will clear the air by shutting down factories and taking about a third of the city's 3 million cars off the road each day.

So much the better if that works.

So much the worse if the relief for the city's 15 million people is only temporary.

Philip Hersh covers Olympic sports for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.

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