I was in China a couple of weeks back and could not believe how bad the pollution was while I was there. I grew up in Southern California in the 60’s and 70’s. I never saw the air as bad as I saw it in China.
The Olympics kept going through my mind while I was touring Beijing. How were the athletes going to deal with the smog? I mean, I could feel how bad it was when I went to the Great Wall how is someone going to run a marathon?
One other thing we noticed was the lack of birds around the city (both in Beijing and Shanghai). Even in the countryside we had a hard time seeing any birds. Bird Flu?
The pollution and lack of quality checks with their food (I am still suffering from “Mao’s Revenge”) will hamper the 2008 games.
I remember when they were originally trying to get this event in Beijing.. for the 2000 olympics they blocked the streets from Vehicles for the 2 weeks before aaaaaaaaand the most polluting factories were closed and gave everyone a paid 2 week vacation to get the air clear for the Olympic committee visit.
Now they have air quality Problems? what a shock..
Call Al Gore
He will get them straightened out
They could introduce new events:
The 100 meter dash to the restroom
The 440 wheeze relay
The long puke
The chronic hack marathon
I was there a couple weeks ago. I’ve never seen anything like Bejing’s pollution. The sky simply does not exist even on clear days and the haze just envelops buildings a few hundred feet away. Its horrific and i’m far from an environmental wacko. It isn’t healthy to live their and I can’t imagine its healthy for elite athletes to compete there. I can’t imagine running an olympic marathon in that.