Olympics Events To Be Scheduled Around Smog Days
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BEIJING — Olympics organizers are preparing to reschedule events at next year’s games in Beijing to avoid days when air quality is particularly bad, the head of the Olympic movement said yesterday.
As ceremonies began in Tiananmen Square to mark the one-year countdown to the games, the president of the Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, said concerns about smog meant they were preparing contingency plans.
“It would not be necessary for all sports with short durations,” Mr. Rogge said. “But the endurance sports — like the cycling race where you have to compete for six hours — these are examples of competitions that might be postponed or delayed to another day.”
