Olympics

Al Guo – SCMP – Updated on Aug 24, 2008

Beijing authorities will impose strict traffic controls on roads close to the Olympic Green today to ensure tangle-free roads for the Games’ closing ceremony, while the weather bureau has hundreds of rockets aimed at the sky to dispel any rain clouds.

The traffic ban, which extends to almost all the roads in the city’s north, is on a similar scale to that ordered for the opening ceremony. Motorists have been told to avoid these areas from early afternoon until the end of the closing ceremony at about midnight.

Those attending have been urged to take public transport to the area as no car parks will be available.

Seven Olympic venues will host events on the last day of the Games, and temporary traffic controls will be tightened around those arenas during the competitions.

Since it is a Sunday, authorities were not concerned about general commuters needing to use the city’s road or public transport systems.

In addition to efforts on the ground for the closing ceremony, Beijing’s weather officials have plans to ward off any clouds that could threaten to dampen the finale.

There have been many predictions for cloudy weather – but no rain – in Beijing during the closing ceremony. But the capital’s meteorological department is taking no chances: it has hundreds of rockets at the ready to break up the clouds.

More than 1,000 rockets were fired into the atmosphere on August 8, the opening day of the Games, preventing rain clouds from forming.

Weather monitors will update their forecasts every 15 minutes today to decide whether or when to fire the rockets.

“We guaranteed good weather for the opening ceremony, and now we will deliver good weather for the closing ceremony,” a weather official was quoted by the Beijing Morning Post as saying.

Even so, with one day remaining, Beijing officials could not wait yesterday to declare the event a success, especially in terms of air quality and operations.

“I’m glad to tell you that all 76 Olympic venues have been running smoothly and highly efficiently, and our organisation of the Games has received warm applause and praise from all parties,” said Liu Zhi, a spokesman for the Beijing municipal government.

He had reason to beam. The Air Pollution Index, a major gauge of air quality, dropped by more than 20 percentage points during the Olympics period compared with the same time last year, and the city’s major air pollutants have dropped 40 per cent on average, according to statistics released by the authorities.

Athletes seem satisfied with the air and none were reported wearing face masks during events.

Kara Goucher, a US women’s 5,000- and 10,000-metres runner, told her hometown newspaper, The Register Guard of Eugene, Oregon, that her running had not been affected by the air quality.

“There are the days where it’s hazy … but the weather has not been what we thought. It’s been way better. The air has been good. It’s been as good as it could possibly be. It hasn’t been bad,” Goucher was quoted as saying.

Environmental chief says clear skies expected to stay for the rest of the Games

Shi Jiangtao – SCMP – Updated on Aug 20, 2008

Athletes worried about Beijing’s pollution can now breathe easy, as the capital had recorded the cleanest air in a decade thanks to frequent showers and a series of last-minute efforts to clear up the smog, a mainland official says.

The capital had enjoyed five days of blue skies up to yesterday, lifting pressure off authorities who had pledged to present the world with a “green” Olympics.

Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Environmental Bureau, said the air quality this month was at its best level in 10 years and clear skies were expected to remain for the rest of the Olympics, which end on Sunday. Over the past 19 days, the city has had 10 days, including yesterday, when its air pollution index was below 50, or considered “good” by the national standard.

Air quality for the rest of the days was “moderate”, with API readings ranging between 51 and 100.

A reading higher than 101 is “unhealthy for sensitive groups”, especially athletes in endurance sports such as marathon running and road cycling.

While meteorologists said downpours had cleaned the city’s air, environmental officials were eager to claim credit for their desperate last-ditch attempts over the past weeks – including banning half the city’s 3.3 million cars from the road, halting construction and closing factories.

“We have adopted much tougher measures to ensure clean air for the Games than any other Olympic host cities,” Mr Du said.

“It shows our efforts to ensure good air quality, especially those contingency measures to cut pollution, have worked well.”

Weather conditions would remain favourable for the coming days, with showers expected tonight and tomorrow. Mr Du was confident that Beijing would have even clearer air towards the end of the Games.

Pollution has been one of the dominant issues and biggest headaches for the capital in the run-up to the Games. The city was still shrouded in a blanket of smog even after the Games began on August 8, drawing criticism from foreign media.

Smoggy skies mixed with sultry heat and high humidity also prompted complaints from athletes during the first week of competition. But the smog lifted on Friday thanks to heavy rain and brisk breezes.

Mr Du played down concerns that the skies would fill with smog once the traffic and construction bans were lifted after the Games, and failed to provide further details. He said the results of the contingency measures would be reviewed to decide what steps would be taken to ensure that air quality would reach a “new level after the Olympic Games”.

He said a lack of environmental awareness among the public still topped the list of challenges in the fight against pollution.

Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Observatory, predicted a cloudy day for the closing ceremony on Sunday.

But he said meteorologists were fully prepared to use cloud-seeding technology, which was used to disperse rain clouds on the opening day, to ensure a dry closing show at the “Bird’s Nest”.

A total of 1,110 rockets with 15kg of chemical catalysts were fired to stop showers on August 8, when the four-hour opening ceremony was held.

‘I was here in February, I didn’t see no blue sky’

Agencies – Updated on Aug 19, 2008

Marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie regrets pulling out of the race over fears that Beijing’s air pollution would damage his health. But he has not discounted running in London in 2012.

“I’m surprised. What do you expect from me? I was here in February, I didn’t see no blue sky,” the Ethiopian runner said yesterday with the sun shining in a slightly hazy sky. Asked if he was sorry not to be running in Sunday’s marathon, he said: “Don’t push me. Yes.”

Gebrselassie, 35, who suffers from asthma, announced in March that he would not run the marathon and called on China to deal with the pollution, saying it would be a hazard to athletes.

IOC chief Jacques Rogge said last year that endurance events could be rescheduled if efforts to clear Beijing’s polluted skies failed.

As it turned out, the opening days of the Games were marred by smoggy skies but the weather has cleared for the second week.

“It’s really good for everybody, good for all. To keep such clean air, that’s fantastic,” Gebrselassie said.

Gebrselassie ran in the men’s 10,000m on Sunday, an event in which he has twice won a gold medal. He finished in sixth place, behind fellow Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Sileshi Sihine, who took gold and silver respectively.

“Getting sixth in the 10,000m, it was not bad,” he said. “The only problem I had yesterday was just the last 250m, the last 300m. I have no more sprint. My training is mostly for a marathon.”

He said he may return to the 10,000m and is also keen to run in the marathon in London in the 2012 Games even though he will be 39 years old.

Gebrselassie set the world record in Berlin last year. He will return to Berlin on September 28 to try to break his marathon record of two hours, four minutes and 26 seconds, before turning his thoughts to London. He said: “I have no plans to stop running, I want to run for at least the next 10 years.

“My next competition is the Berlin marathon, I know the course well because I have run it twice. I know where I have to push the pace, that is why I do well there.”

Can he lower his world record there? “It’s a secret”, replied the Ethiopian who was 10,000m champion in 1996 and 2000.

In his absence, Gebrselassie believes triple London marathon winner, Martin Lel will be favourite on Sunday.

“It is very difficult to say who will win, but the Kenyans are strong,” he said. “Martin Lel is a good bet, but it’s an open field and you just never know.”

Gebreselassie was at the Bird’s Nest stadium to see Liu Xiang withdraw from the men’s 110m hurdles with a foot injury yesterday. Gebreselassie said he had sympathy for the Chinese athlete, who was under tremendous pressure to win gold on home soil.

He said: “Liu Xiang is obviously very sad and I can understand his pain.

“It is painful for him, but the pain is not in his leg. Where is the pain? It’s up here,” said Gebrselassie, pointing to his head.

“It’s bad luck, not just for Liu Xiang or for China, but for everyone. We all wanted to see the best race between him and Cuba’s Dayron Robles.

“The race won’t happen but that unpredictability is one of the good things about sport.”

Reuters, Agence France-Presse

Shi Jiangtao – Updated on Aug 16, 2008 – SCMP

Crystal-clear skies finally emerged in Beijing yesterday after days of competition clouded by sultry and smoggy weather.

The capital basked under bright sunshine and blue skies a day after torrential downpours – just the sort of weather the organisers had been praying for.

Pollution has been one of the biggest headaches for Beijing and a regular source of heated debate among mainland officials, environmentalists and the international media.

Beijing promised there would be clear skies during the Games, but athletes have complained about a mix of sultry, humid and hazy weather and frequent showers in the first week of competition which affected a number of outdoor events.

Air quality improved drastically thanks to heavy rain on Thursday, with the air pollution index, a measure of major pollutants, pronounced “good” by national standards.

The reading of particulate matter, or PM10, a key pollutant resulting from dust and vehicle exhausts, was 17 micrograms per cubic metre yesterday, down from 61 on Thursday.

Yesterday’s PM10 reading, measuring the concentration of particles of less than 10 microns, was the lowest in more than two years, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

“What a nice day,” 32-year-old Beijing office clerk Wang Gang said. “It’s definitely one of the best days in years and I really hope it can last.”

While a PM10 reading of less than 150 micrograms per cubic metre is considered acceptable by national standards, the level deemed safe by the World Health Organisation is 20 micrograms.

Since January last year, Beijing has had just three days when the city’s PM10 readings were below 20.

Despite improvements in cutting pollutant particles, analysts said levels of ozone, which were expected to be high in the summer heat, would be of concern for athletes.

Beijing does not include ozone in its pollution parameters, despite the WHO recommending that it should be.

Beijing has carried out a multibillion-dollar campaign to cut pollution and repair the country’s tainted image over persistent smog since it was awarded the Games seven years ago, achieving some improvements over the years.

The authorities have also made desperate attempts to clean up air in recent weeks, including pulling half the city’s 3.3 million cars off the road, halting construction and closing factories around the capital.

Mainland officials were quick to claim results from the efforts but they appeared to have little positive impact on the city’s smog-plagued air in the first few days of the Games.

The costly opening extravaganza last week was shrouded in a thick blanket of smog and sweltering summer heat.

Officials have admitted, albeit unwillingly, that their effort to cut pollution in time for the Games could not make a substantial difference without favourable weather such as cooling winds and rain.

Al Guo – Updated on Aug 14, 2008 – SCMP

Beijing traffic authorities have no plans to extend vehicle restrictions that have taken half of the city’s cars off the roads, but cheap bus and subway fares are likely to stay after the Olympics, a senior municipal official says.

The statement effectively ended, at least for now, a debate in the media and online chat rooms about whether the odd-even date traffic control scheme should continue after it expired on September 20, shortly after the end of the Paralympics. Under the scheme, private vehicles are allowed on the roads only on alternate days, determined by the last digit of their number plates.

Supporters of the policy argue that fewer cars on the road have cut vehicle exhaust emissions and contributed to better air quality in Beijing. Others say that continuing the measure beyond the Olympics period will infringe on the interests of vehicle owners.

Zhou Zhengyu , deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications, said the response to the temporary traffic control measure from motorists and the public had been positive, especially because of better air quality.

A survey by the Beijing Daily last month showed that more than 90 per cent of respondents supported the traffic restrictions because they would help improve air quality and reduce traffic jams for the Games period. But one key point raised in the survey, as well as many other surveys conducted this year, was that the measure was instituted for the Games, so people – in the interest of national pride – generally did not mind making minor sacrifices.

But extending the policy would undoubtedly anger many motorists, who thought the restriction would be a short-term measure.

“They’d better have a perfect explanation [to extend the policy on restrictions] because nobody told me my car could run only a couple of months a year when I bought it,” said Wei Minghui .

The capital has become clogged with traffic in recent years, as rapid income growth has allowed many people to afford cars. The city government has reduced fares on public transport to try to persuade people to use their vehicles less.

Many speculated the government’s low-fare policy was in place just for the Olympics, but Mr Zhou said the low fares would remain.

“We want to improve the percentage of people taking public transport to 45 [per cent] in the near future from 35 per cent now.”

Beijing’s air quality has improved steadily in the past few weeks since the odd-even restrictions went into effect on July 20. The Air Pollution Index stood at 60 yesterday, higher than the previous two days but in the “moderate” category.

Legal activist missing since checking on protest permit, group says

Peter Simpson – Updated on Aug 14, 2008 – SCMP

A Fujian legal activist who applied to stage a protest in one of three government-approved Olympic protest zones is missing after going to police to check on his application, a human rights watchdog said yesterday.

The claim followed pleas from international journalists to the director of the Beijing Games’ Security Department, Liu Shaowu , to release details on the applications received by the authorities in the five days since the areas opened.

“I do not have the number of applicants and other details. I will get them for you,” he said after being repeatedly asked during a joint International Olympic Committee and Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games press conference.

US-based Human Rights Watch said on its website that Ji Sizun, a grass-roots legal activist, applied to the Deshengmenwai police station in Beijing’s Xicheng district last Thursday to stage a rally during the Games.

The 58-year-old, who calls for more public participation in politics and denounces rampant official corruption and abuses of power, was detained while checking on his application on Monday, the group said.

A duty police officer denied having detained Mr Ji, telling reporters the station had “not received Ji’s case because the station does not take protest applications”.

Mr Ji called his family to say he “had problems” and has since been unreachable on his mobile phone, said Human Rights Watch.

The zones have remained empty and are being used for leisure. Public protests are rare on the mainland as they can bring unwanted scrutiny.

Both Bocog and the IOC have come under pressure from foreign journalists who have gathered in Beijing to cover the Games and are reporting on issues ranging from human rights to pollution.

Al Guo – SCMP – Updated on Aug 12, 2008

Beijing’s traffic was not as clogged as expected yesterday, the first workday during the Olympics, although some sections of major city roads were congested during both morning and evening rush hours.

The real-time traffic map on the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau’s website showed yellow and red warnings only in Changan Avenue, an arterial east-west road, the Second Ring Road and routes leading to the airport. Yellow means minor congestion and red severe traffic jams. The rest of the city remained green, meaning smooth traffic flows.

The relatively smooth traffic conditions on the third day of Olympic competition could be partly attributed to repeated bureau warnings on television, on radio, online and in newspapers about a sudden upsurge in traffic.

Commuter Li Zhengkun said he had taken note of the warnings and rode a bicycle to work. “And my wife simply walked to work, because we hate being stuck in traffic.” He and his wife are avid badminton fans, and watched the morning matches over the internet on their office computers.

It is not known how many people have taken time off work during the Olympics. Commuter Wang Jing said she thought the bus she had taken was less crowded than on Thursday, the last workday before the opening ceremony.

“There were definitely fewer people on my bus today. I guess some people don’t have to work like me,” said Ms Wang, who works for a medical-equipment company. Some companies, she’s heard, allow employees to take time off to watch the Games, but hers does not.

“No one in my company can get time off. We keep our office TV on all day so we can keep track of how many medals China has won.”

Motorist Zhang Chunyan was stuck near the Airport Expressway yesterday morning for almost an hour, but she was not worried about being late for work: her company has introduced flexible hours during the Olympics. “You arrive late; you leave late. As long as you work eight hours a day, you will be fine.”

Reuters in Beijing – Updated on Aug 11, 2008

The transport restrictions and factory closures that China has ordered as part of its drive to clean Beijing’s air for the Olympics could lead to a dip in overall economic activity in the short term, some economists say.

Hoping to cut down on smog during the Games, authorities have shut down dozens of polluting factories in Beijing and neighbouring provinces and are significantly limiting traffic in and out of the city. It has also banned certain goods from being shipped for security reasons.

Many economists have said that the effect of those measures would probably be offset by factories in other parts of the country ramping up production and by an Olympics-related boost to Beijing’s tourism industry.

But Hong Liang and Yu Song with Goldman Sachs said evidence was mounting to the contrary.

“While the long-term economic impacts of the Olympic Games are likely to be minimal, it increasingly looks like the Games’ short-term economic impacts are likely to be negative,” they wrote in a research note.

Liang and Song expect the measures to lead to a visible slowdown in both production and consumption in August and September, to be followed by a rebound in October after the restrictions expire. They are due to end on September 20.

“Therefore, it will be difficult to get a ‘clean’ reading of the underlying economic trend [as well as price trend] probably until after October,” they wrote.

Many economists expect China’s economy to slow in the second half, as weaker overseas demand and the stronger yuan drag down exports and tightening measures at home dampen investment. Annual growth slowed to 10.1 per cent in the second quarter, down from 11.9 per cent in all of last year.

However, economists agree virtually unanimously that the end of the Games themselves will not contribute significantly to any long-term slowdown in the country’s growth, as has been experienced by some past host nations, including after the Seoul Games in 1988, Barcelona in 1992 and Athens in 2004.

Jonathan Anderson, an economist with UBS in Hong Kong, noted that the impact of the Olympics on the overall economy was greatest in countries in which the host city accounts for a relatively large proportion of the overall population.

Whereas some past host cities have accounted for upwards of 40 per cent of the national population, that figure drops to 1.1 per cent for Beijing, Anderson said.

“Our estimates for China put the impact of the 2008 Olympics far behind the decimal point in terms of growth,” he wrote.

However, the end of the Olympics could be good for the economy in other ways, as that will allow authorities to shift their focus back to the many other pressing problems waiting to be tackled, said William Hess, greater China manager for Global Insight in Beijing.

“The Olympics have been a giant distraction when it comes to policy making, and movement on issues such as energy pricing and power shortages, rising producer costs and the plight of SMEs is arguably overdue,” Hess said. “There are still a lot of big issues out there that need attention.”