New Plagues Hit
Bloomberg
By Grant Clark
July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Beijing Olympic organizers, struggling to clear their
algae-choked sailing venue and facing a possible locust invasion, say these
latest challenges to next month's games are no ``major problem.''
About 10,000 people are scooping algae out of the sea at the eastern city of
``There's an old saying in China that good things only come after enduring a
lot of hardship,'' Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of
the Beijing organizing committee, said yesterday in Beijing. ``We expected to
face many challenges so it's not a surprise. These issues aren't major
problems.''
So far this year, the world's most populous nation has faced the worst
winter snowstorms in 50 years, riots in
The nation's focus on helping survivors and rebuilding dozens of towns and
cities is taking its toll on Olympic- related businesses, said Devin Kao, whose
company holds the license to market metal Olympic souvenirs.
`Bad Things'
Monthly sales of 400,000 Olympic pins or key chains before May have since
slumped to 50,000 as companies canceled orders so they could make donations to
relief efforts, he said.
``Quite a lot of bad things have happened in
Advertising spending in
``This is mainly because there was a mourning period of three days in
mainland
In Qingdao, host to the five-day sailing event, some 4,000 troops and 6,000
workers have collected 290,000 tons of string- like algae in the past week. The
city government is aiming for a return to normal conditions along its coastline
by July 15.
`Full Confidence'
With more than 20 Olympic teams already in town preparing for the games,
officials are focusing on clearing the training areas and may use chemicals to
speed up the process, Jiang said.
``We've seen algae along the coast of
Local officials blamed the algae bloom on warmer weather, higher rainfall
and increased levels of nutrients in the sea, and said about one tenth of the
sailing regatta area remains covered.
The
``Trials and tribulations serve to revitalize a nation,'' said Peng Zaiwei, a Shenzhen resident
who has tickets for the swimming events in
Six months of bad news haven't diminished residents' faith that the games will
be a success.
``The trials are problems which could have happened anytime -- before or
after the Olympics,'' said Mu Zhanquan,
who works in the capital's central business district. ``But my confidence in a
successful Beijing Olympics won't erode.''