Beijing shrouded in smog two weeks before China's Olympic Games

China is considering even more stringent measures to control pollution as Beijing continues to be shrouded in smog less than two weeks before the Olympics.

By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 12:28AM BST 28 Jul 2008

The National Stadium know as the 'Bird's Nest' seen through thick smog Photo: AFP/GETTY

The area where the games will take place failed the government's own smog targets, even as officials opened the Olympic Village with great fanfare.

The air was "unhealthy for sensitive groups," the city's environmental protection bureau said.

The official targets are themselves much looser than those considered "safe" by the World Health Organisation.

"It doesn't really look so good," said Gunilla Lindberg, the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee.

"The day I arrived, Tuesday, was awful. We try to be hopeful. Hopefully we are lucky during the games as we were with Atlanta, Athens and Barcelona."

Partly because of the pollution, several national teams are conducting their final preparations away from Beijing, including the British. But other athletes have begun arriving at the Olympic Village.

From this complex, the main stadia were invisible, thanks to the city's haze.

Nonetheless, Du Shaozhong, the environmental bureau's deputy director, said conditions were 20 per cent better than during the equivalent period last year.

But he admitted that the lack of wind, a common feature of July weather, was preventing the dispersal of the haze.