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China's Pollution May Affect Olympic Games
Related to country: China

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

As next year's Olympic games in Beijing, China gets closer, there are strong fears of the effects of a polluted environment.

In July 2001, Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games - a victory that carried a touch of vindication. Eight years earlier, the International Olympic Committee had rejected Beijing's first bid for a range of reasons, including the city's polluted environment. This time, Beijing organizers have promised to host a "Green Olympics."

For years, Beijing has ranked as one of the world's most polluted cities. To win the Games, Beijing promised a "Green Olympics" and undertook environmental initiatives now considered models for the rest of China. With Beijing preparing to play host to the 2008 Olympics next August, the Blue Sky ratings are the measuring stick for whether the city's polluted air will be clean enough for the Games.

While Beijing says the Olympics have already had a lasting and positive environmental legacy on the city, IOC officials acknowledge that air quality remains a problem but say the air would be far worse without improvements made for the Games.

This year, a team of Chinese and American scientists analyzed air quality issues for the Olympics and found that Beijing's daily concentrations of PM2.5 rated anywhere from 50 percent to 200 percent higher than U.S. standards. Their study, published in Atmospheric Environment, also found that ozone levels regularly exceeded U.S. standards.

Beijing has spent about $12 billion since 2001 on an environmental clean-up but a UN report issued in October found that the city would fail to resolve poor air quality in time for the Games. Women's Olympic champion Justine Henin, an asthmatic who pulled out of the China Open in September because of pollution fears, may not defend her Olympic tennis title in 2008 for the same reason.

For the world's Olympic athletes, Beijing's air is a performance issue. The concern is that respiratory problems could impede athletic performance and prevent records from being broken. For Beijing's estimated 12 million residents, pollution is an inescapable health and quality of life issue. Skepticism about the improving Blue Sky ratings is common. There is also concern whether the city can clean itself up long after the Games are over.

Via: IHT and The Moscow News

December 29, 2007 | 6:55 AM Comments  0 comments

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