MaKesher: Why not? Why can’t they run in the marathon?
It is because physically, they do not have the lung capacity to be able to run for that amount of time, or sustain that kind of physical effort.
That is why at the Olympics in China the American athletes came off the plane wearing masks. They were trying to protect their lungs from the pollution due to the effect it could possibly have on their athletic performance – especially when winning and losing sometimes comes down to hundredths of a second.