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Qingdao to have sufficient wind for Games
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-08-01 10:45
Sailors don't have to worry about insufficient wind in Qingdao during the Beijing Olympics, said an Olympic sailing event organizer here on Thursday.
Zang Aimin, Executive Vice-President of the Sailing Committee of Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, said they have studied the weather in recent years in order to take measures to ensure competition to go smoothly.
Several events including the RS:X Men and Women and 49er could not take place as scheduled due to insufficient wind at last year's international sailing competition.
"There is a problem that many people care about. It is true that at that time (in August), the wind on Chinese seas is not as strong as in European countries who held the Olympics," said the vice mayor of Qingdao, Beijing Olympics' co-host city. She is hereto brief the city's preparation for an Olympic test event, Good Luck Beijing - Qingdao International Sailing Regatta at the Qingdao International Sailing Center on Aug. 9-24.
"The wind was relatively light last year but we finished the International Regatta all the same. According to IOC and International Sailing Federation, if three quarters of all planned rounds can be finished, the competition site is good and the number for Qingdao is 92 percent," she said.
"Athletes need to be adapted to different seas. That's why there are two international sailing events before the Olympics.
"We organizers will do our job as we have gauged wind power since 2003," she said. "We found that the wind will get stronger from 10 am to 4 pm everyday."
"So we can adjust competition schedule to have sufficient wind for the competition," she added.
Beijing Olympic Games will kick off on Aug. 8 next year with the sailing competition slated for Aug. 9-21.
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