Intrepid Journalists discover the truth about Beijing’s air quality

Not much of a fuss has been made about it, but apparently the air quality is a little below par in Beijing, and thus the world’s healthiest people may not be able to compete at the best of their abilities when the Games open later today. I know, I’d heard nothing about it either.

The guys from the D.C. Sports Blog (hilariously re-named Beijing Sports Smog for the next few weeks) have run a thoroughly impartial test on the air quality in China’s capital, by sending out an unfit sports blogger and a woman who smokes to pound the streets. They concluded by saying they felt “a lot thirstier and a lot crummier” than they normally would. Granted, Beijing has its pollution problems, but isn’t this kind of test about as fair as putting Wayne Rooney on Newsnight to debate the political pressures facing Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf?

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Common sense defeated in battle with over-the-top precaution

In an Olympic cycling test event held in Beijing last September, just eight of fifty riders finished, most blaming the dropouts on breathing problems and nausea. Accordingly, some American cyclists today turned up at Beijing airport wearing black respiration masks, presumably to combat a fatal pollution problem inside the newly-constructed air conditioned terminal.

Darryl Seibel, chief communications officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee, summed up what everyone was thinking:

I will say this, I am not a scientist, but in my view that was unnecessary.

[Yahoo]

China resorts to pollution quick fix ‘plan B’

They’ve taken around 1.7 million cars off the road and shut down many of their most polluting factories, but as you can see from yesterday’s post, China’s capital is still shrouded in smog.

Rather than try to rectify the problem, the Chinese have installed poster murals of fresh countryside and bright blue skies, hoping that athletes and visitors are so nauseous and disorientated, that they will fail to notice they are actually surrounded by conditions more akin to the inside of Paul Gascoigne’s lungs.

[FanIQ]

Can you spot the stadium in the picture below?

Over the last few months, China have been making every effort to eliminate the pollution that is threatening to turn the Olympic Games into a sham. With just ten days to go, however, Beijing is still experiencing the kind of haze one would expect in Amy Winehouse’s living room.

[Machochip]

Gorillaz help portray the misery and confusion of China’s capital

To whet our appetites for the impending Beijing Games, the Beeb have decided to produce an animated trailer based on the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West, with the help of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, better known as Gorillaz.

In the clip, Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy encounter numerous dangers on the way to the Bird’s Nest stadium, perhaps intended to mirror the pollution, racism and steroid-filled food that will halt the progress of the world’s finest athletes.

It’s great that the old timers at the BBC are trying to be ‘down with the kids’ with their build up, but I’ve seen David Lynch films that are easier to follow than this bizarre mess.

[First spotted by our hombres at Machochip]