29 Jul 2008 04:19:08 GMT – Source: Reuters – By James Pomfret
HONG KONG, July 29 (Reuters) – Hong Kong choked in a thick, hot blanket of air pollution on Tuesday with the city gearing up to host Olympic equestrian events, prompting one leading riding nation to bemoan the less than ideal conditions.
With the first equestrian horses having arrived over the weekend and settling into their stables, the exceptionally smoggy weather threatened embarrassment for Hong Kong which has spent $150 million building state-of-the-art facilities and been at pains to play down the risk posed from sub-tropical heat and humidity.
On Monday, the city recorded its highest ever air pollution index (API) reading of 202 on a remote island for a brief period, while in Shatin, where the core Olympics events will be held, the level hit 173 with the general public advised to reduce physical exertion and outdoor activities.
The top-ranked German equestrian team which flew all 14 of their Olympics horses to Hong Kong over the weekend said the poor weather conditions in the former British colony weren’t ideal and a far cry from the usual pristine environment of European events.
“I think it’s very difficult for the horses and for the riders too, they have to acclimatise,” said Reinhard Wendt, the chef de mission for the German equestrian team which includes gold medal contenders Isabell Werth and Ludger Beerbaum.
“We can see how the horses and riders feel. But we don’t know if it’s from the heat or the humidity or the dirty air. We are not used to such circumstances, and the feeling is not so good at the moment,” Wendt told Reuters.
Others teams played down the impact.
“We have no concerns,” Dutch chef d’equipe Mariette Sanders told Reuters. “Okay, it was quite hazy yesterday but there were no problems for us.”
At the Shatin equestrian hub, the air pollution index had dropped substantially from the high reading on Monday.
A spokesperson for the Equestrian Company which is organising the equine events said in a statement that “the condition of all the horses was being very carefully monitored and there was no cause for alarm concerning the horses’ welfare”.
The spike in pollution comes amid a bout of unusually hot and fine sub-tropical weather. Concerns over the summer heat and humidity however sparked the earlier pullout the Swiss dressage team.
Despite intensified government efforts to clean up the smog in recent years which have yielded some results, air pollution has remained a serious problem, with the city’s iconic harbour and top tourist destination cloaked in a thick haze this week.
(Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by Nick Macfie)