Green Olympics: Algae threatens sailing venue
Friday, 4th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Where is this guy going to swim?
The Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao is threatened by huge algae blooms, and China is throwing huge resources behind correcting the problem.
According to this Reuters report, the algae has invaded one third of the sailing site, and 10,000 people and 1,200 vessels have been enlisted to clean it up. According to Xinhua, 170,000 tons of algae have already been removed.
"It has appeared in patches about the size of football pitches which are impossible to sail through," Olympic sailing medalist Iain Percy told the UK's Times Online. "How the organizers are going to be able to set a mile-long sailing course is a real concern."
The same Times Online story also says that organizers have set a cleanup deadline of July 15.
Image: Reuters
Tags: environment, Qingdao, sailing
Zheng loses in Wimbledon semis
Friday, 4th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
When Zheng had the serve, she managed to keep Serena playing along the baseline for much of the time. But Serena punched through 14 aces, compared to none for Zheng.
As Zheng Jie leaves competition until August, here's a look at some of the better pieces that have been done on her over the past few days:
From Wimbledon.org, on why Zheng's success is not as much of a surprise as you might think: Zheng and the art of ankle maintenance
From the New York Times, on how Zheng's success makes a case against China's system of selecting athletes based on physiological formulas: Chinese Tennis No Longer Overlooks Zheng
From the LA Times: Zheng is fun to watch, but why?
Image: Wimbledon.org
Tags: tennis, Wimbledon, Zheng Jie