It is likely that some Olympic athletes will wear face masks at the Olympics to counter the effects of poor air quality and prevent asthmatic attacks.
Some possible features:
- Disposable half face face mask and foldable for storage in a pocket
- Likely to be in 3M 99xx series
- Jumbo exhaust valve or two valves (a new feature for high exertion)
- Two straps for better fit
- Either N95 or N99 compliant
- Possible gas SO2/NOx layer
- Possible nanoparticle filter layer
Apparently there is some sensitivity about them been seen at the opening ceremony. The US team are keeping details of theirs secret to avoid copying. Some things to look for:
- Athletes wearing surgical type masks, which have a huge cultural popularity in Asia. They cannot work as there is a poor face seal and do not filter ultra fine particles. They also restrict air flow, particularly on exhalation, as they do not have an exhaust valve.
- If any face masks have a single strap, it is likely to be a nuisance dust mask and have neither a good fit (leakage will make them useless) or be able to filter the very fine particulates that are associated with respiratory conditions.
- Events like the Marathon, Cycling and any where there are large volumes of air breathed over an extended time, will be more likely to have face masks worn.
- If the US team has face masks, then I would expect that a company with well developed respiratory protection research labs like 3M would have developed the masks with funding from the US military and Homeland Security with a vision for military or emergency services work. A lot of 3M respirators were used after 9/11 in the cleanup . Look for a 3M logo. Nice product placement.
- I predict that the US face masks will be lightweight, disposable, half face (nose and mouth), N95 or N99 masks to filter out very fine particles. They will have two straps to ensure a good fit. It is possible they will have a special gas absorbent layer to reduce the levels of oxides or nitrogen and sulphur dioxide, which exacerbate the effect of these particulates. To reduce exhalation resistance, the exhaust valve (which will be present on any serious mask) will be larger than normal to allow lower breathing resistance, or there will be two. It is possible that new filters based on nanotechnology will be present.
