OneHourAhead » Environment http://www.onehourahead.com/blog Welcome Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:40:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 en Olympic rowing course run dry http://www.onehourahead.com/blog/2007/10/28/olympic-rowing-course-run-dry/ http://www.onehourahead.com/blog/2007/10/28/olympic-rowing-course-run-dry/#comments Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:24:45 +0000 OneHourAhead http://www.onehourahead.com/blog/?p=19 An interesting thread on the rec.sport.rowing messageboards here. The Olympic rowing venue in Beijing has run dry due to drought. The Beijing authorities are going to divert another river to replenish it. The course is in the arid, urban region Shunyi of Beijing so natural run-off to replenish the it is practically non-existent. This is bad planning that could have been caught from the start, but neither the IOC nor the Beijing committee have done anything. So for the rowers going to Beijing, not only are the already going to have to deal with breathing difficulties from the massive pollution, but now also their going to have to compete on the dreaded ergs!

For London 2012, the rowers at least already have their course built away from the pollution and problems of the main site, but already the Canoe/Slalom course at Broxbourne is under threat from the previous pollution of the area.

I’m a big fan of the Olympics and really want London 2012 to succeed. But for future games, the IOC and the planning committees have to make the impact the games has on the area a number one priority - not all legacy is good.

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