Every four years the summer Olympics make headlines.  Athletes from all over the world meet to contend over who is the fastest, strongest, most flexible, and the list goes on from there.  The 2008 Summer Olympics held in Bejiing, China are no different.  Among the headlines is returning swimmer Michael Phelps.  Can he do it again?  Will Paul Hamm get the gold this year or will his injury hold him back.  Will the 41 year old woman swimmer trying to make history.  Before we can tune into what is going to happen with the headline athletes, we should keep our eye on a completely different headline…

Can Bejiing deal with the air pollution or more precise, HOW will Bejiing deal with the air pollution?  The Olympic games are scheduled to begin 8-8-08 but before that they must figure out how to drastically reduce the amount of smog in the city of Bejiing.  Recently, the city tried a week long alternate driving day “ban.”  People’s license plates were categorized “even” or “odd.”  If you had an odd number license plate - you drove on Monday and took public transit on Tuesday and vice versa for even numbers.  This was supposed to help the amount of smog that constantly hovers like a cloud over the city.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work as well as planned.  The week this was tried the weather was calm, keeping all of the pollutants within the cloud.  The air is filthy from not only vehicles, but also, factories and construction work. 

As anyone could guess, to breathe this type of air is not healthy regardless of whether you are an athlete in the Olympics.  Competing in a pageant while the Olympics are on?  Better brush up on your knowledge…it is current and very controversial.  Think of the athletes who are training in Bejiing or going to compete.  Will it change the outcome of the Olympics?  Will there be as many teams/contestants/entries?  Do you think it will cause serious health concerns for athletes and spectators?

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