Air is fine, let the Games begin

International Olympic Committee president yesterday praised China for the "extraordinary" job it had done to clean the air for the Beijing Games.

China has done everything "humanly possible" to combat air pollution, and conditions will be fine for athletes, Jacques Rogge said.

"What they (China) have done is extraordinary: planting millions of trees between the Gobi Desert and Beijing, removing hundreds of thousands of polluting cars, closing polluting petrol stations I think they have done a commendable job. The statistics are very clear. The pollution levels are coming down. It is not yet perfect. (But) it is safe for the athletes."