Green algae has invaded the sailing venue at the Beijing Olympics being held next month. The BBC reports the algae arrived in late May and now covers 5,000 square miles of sea, according to the Xinhua news agency. It occupies almost a third of the area for the sailing competition. Officials say the clean up could take two more weeks.
Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee member Yuan Zhiping told a news conference Sunday that workers were focusing on the competition area. He said, “we have stressed to all the people devoted to this campaign that the priority should (be) given to the Olympic venue and we expect to eliminate all these sea weeds before July 15”.
Xinhua reports Olympic sailors were already training in the area and their preparation was being affected.
More than 1,000 boats are involved in the clean up and 100,000 tonnes of the weeds have already been removed.
Meanwhile International Olympic Committee head (IOC) Jacques Rogge has proposed a joint march by North and South Korea at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. The proposal was made in a letter Rogge sent last month to North and South Korean officials, a South Korean Olympic Committee spokesman told AFP.
The spokesman said, “our committee has yet to respond to Rogge’s letter but we are positive about the joint march. Our side will try to contact North Korea on this issue”, adding, “time is running short. It is almost impossible to field joint athletic and cheering squads”.
The two Koreas have never had a unified team in the Olympics or the Asian Games, but in the early 1990s there was reportedly a joint team at the world football championship and world table tennis championship.
