Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

Foreign athletes take trainings at the Olympic sailing venue off the coast of the Olympic co-host city Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, July 10, 2008. The algae outbreak off the coast of Qingdao continued to shrink on Thursday as the density of the green weed shrank to 0.5 percent from 32 percent when it appeared off the coast in early June. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    QINGDAO, East China, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Qingdao has voiced confidence that the Olympic sailing competitions in the co-host city next month would be a success.

    "We have confidence to ensure the success of the events," Xia Geng, the mayor of Qingdao said in a pep rally one month ahead of the Games.

    Preparations in Qingdao had been running smoothly with all the venues already built and highly praised by the visiting officials from International Organizing Committee(IOC).

    However, the sudden invasion of algae in June had been to some extent affecting the normal order of the host city.

    "It was an unavoidable natural disaster," said Hein Verbruggen, Chairman of the Coordination Commission of IOC, "but I believe Qingdao can keep their promise and make the events go on wheels."

    CAUSE NO POLLUTION

    The algae, namely enteromorpha prolifera, was first detected on May 31 60 sea miles east off the Dagong Island by the North China Sea Branch of the State Oceanic Administration and some fishermen working on the sea.

    Experts found the algae was exotic which flew from the central region of the Yellow Sea and would cause no influences on the water quality of the sea off Qingdao coast.

    "The algae will be converted into carbon, generating no toxin during the process," said Tang Qisheng, ocean-ecological expert with the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

    Zhou Mingjiang, a research fellow with the Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), noted that different from the blue-green algae that grew in polluted water, the algae in Qingdao only grew in clean water and would not affect people's drinking water.