Beijing's smog takes shine off Olympic gold

Lung-busting pollution may mean few records are broken at this year's Games, writes Fiona MacLeod

SHROUDED in a thick grey haze, Beijing wallows. A brooding industrial powerhouse, the Chinese capital emanates so much pollution that particles of it have been detected around the world.

Driving in this heaving metropolis of 17 million people and 3.3 million vehicles is an increasingly complicated feat as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games looms.

More than 300,000 ageing lorries that normally chug along Beijing's streets after dark have already been banned and, since yesterday, the number of cars driving each day has been cut in half at a stroke.

For the next two months, half the capital's cars will be removed on alternate days, depending on whether the registration plate ends in an odd or even number.

The move is part of a drastic, last-minute measure to improve air quality for the pending Olympic Games, due to begin in less than three weeks.

The world's greatest marathon runner, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, has already declined to compete fearing the city's smog could trigger his asthma and Britain's Paula Radcliffe is doubtful for similar reasons.

Foundries, power stations, chemical plants and factories across the city were expected to have cut their emissions by 30 per cent by yesterday and dust-spewing construction was to cease entirely for the time being.

Beijing hopes to take 45 per cent of the city's vehicles off the roads and reduce emissions by 63 per cent for the two-month period of the August Olympics and September Paralympics.

Architecturally adventurous venues have been created and the equivalent of £20 billion spent on infrastructure in the city.

It promises to be an impressive event but the country's biggest challenge has been keeping the air clean for the world's greatest athletes.

Many are training away from Beijing and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has said outdoor endurance events lasting more than an hour will be postponed if air quality is poor.

Environmental and sports performance experts have cast doubt on the effectiveness of the measures taken so far.

Dr Andy Jones, a lecturer in the environmental health school at the University of East Anglia, said: "Arguably these are all short-term measures, just designed to control air quality for the time when the Olympics are on.

"It is less clear as to what the longer-term legacy of these measures will be. If we look at Olympic Games undertaken in the past – there were similar issues in Athens and in Atlanta – all of these cities implemented control measures to try to improve pollution while the Games were on.

"But in general, as soon as the media turn their backs and the Games are finished, then the problems just arise again."

An added problem is the high level of economic growth experienced in China.

Dr Jones said: "There is a lot of industrial activity based on burning polluting fossil fuels, and it is hard to see how any improvements in air quality are going to be sustained given these pressures for actually increased levels of pollution in the future."

Dr Jones expressed concern about the idea that some events during the Olympics could be rescheduled if pollution is bad on a given day.

He said: "It's difficult to know how they are going to do that when the Olympics are a tightly timetabled event. If air pollution is bad on a number of consecutive days, what do you do? You get to the point where these events have to go ahead."

More important to the Chinese authorities than the health of the athletes is likely to be the fear of embarrassment at being seen as hosting an Olympics in a highly polluted city.

Dr Jones added: "I'm sure the Chinese have logistically organised things well but they've got this big issue in the background that it is taking place in one of the most polluted cities in the world.

"You can detect pollution from China all over the world. There are some very sensitive instruments in America where they can quite easily pick up certain pollutants which have probably originated from China – but in concentrations much lower than you would expect to have health impact."

Poor air quality, sulphur dioxide and particles all have the potential to make Beijing's residents sick with respiratory illness and even cancers – but of global significance is China's greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr Jones said: "China now is responsible for just under 25 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions and any reductions associated with the Olympics are undoubtedly going to be extremely small. In the short term, these measures will undoubtedly improve air quality in Beijing but I think the global impact of these measures is going to be so small it will be difficult to measure it."

It is not just the health of those athletes who suffer from respiratory conditions such as asthma that is at risk, but also sport itself.

Dr Angus Hunter, lecturer in exercise science at Stirling University, warned that the event is at risk of being a low-performing Games if the air quality cannot be brought down to acceptable levels.

He said: "It's going to have more affect on the aerobic sports, from the 800m up to marathons, cycling events, and mountain biking. Average times could be lower and the chances of records being broken become less."

He added: "It's a bit like trying to exercise in a room when the gym is full of smokers.

"If you have high levels of carbon monoxide the haemoglobin that travels round your bloodstream transporting oxygen to your working muscles comes in competition with the carbon monoxide being inhaled.

"So then the heart has to work relatively harder to get the equivalent oxygen requirements to the working muscles. You then have less oxygen available to sustain the speed you would want."

By the end of the Beijing Olympics there will be winners and there will be medals but the one race that is unlikely to be won in China is the race to save the planet from global warming.

And that could be the most important race the world has to face.

Last-minute measures

IMPROVING air quality has been the biggest headache for the Olympic organisers in China

and traffic is one of the biggest causes of the terrible smog which afflicts Beijing.

Employers in China's capital city have been asked by the authorities to stagger work schedules, and public institutions will open an hour later than normal to reduce transport use.

Yesterday, a sunny but still slightly hazy day, the flow of cars was lighter than usual for a Sunday on the city's wide roads, as vehicles with odd-numbered licence plates were banned from the streets for the day. Today even-numbered cars must stay in the garage.

Those driving on days they should not will be fined 100 yuan, an expensive penalty for Beijing residents.

The government has also improved public transportation options for the estimated four million extra people who will be off the roads because of the traffic plan, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Beijing plans to add up to 3,000 buses to the transport network by the time the Olympics start, raising the daily capacity for passengers from 12.5 million to 15 million, it said.

Unusually, 95 per cent of buses reached their stops on time yesterday because the roads were less congested after the semi-car ban.

Two new subway lines and an airport rail link opened on Saturday, with projected numbers of passengers expected to reach 1.1 million daily during the Olympics.

"It's much faster than a taxi, so it's very good," said Ola Tunamder, who arrived yesterday from Helsinki, Finland, and took the airport train into the city.

On 25 July, special Olympic traffic lanes will begin operating and will stay in place until 25 September.

The city will also set aside 165 miles of roadway on which certified Olympic vehicles will be allowed to move from hotels, Olympic venues and the athletes' village, with an average speed expected to be about 35mph.

In Beijing the Chinese authorities have also been upgrading petrol stations to prevent leakage of fumes into the atmosphere – a key contributor to poor air quality in the city – and replacing the fuels sold with more environmentally-friendly versions.

Experts say city clean-up measures may still fail because unpredictable winds could blow pollution into Beijing, or even due to lack of wind – a general feature of the city in August – which could enable local pollution to build up.