Beijing Olympics Rowing Site Runs Dry - Emergency Water Diversion Under Way - Reuters

[hatrack]

BEIJING, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Beijing has had to divert water from a willow-lined river northeast of the city to replenish its Olympics rowing and canoeing venue which has run dry, Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

The municipal government had spent about 430 million yuan ($57 million) to divert water 13 km (eight miles) from the Wenyu river to the Chaobei river which had run dry for nine consecutive years, Xinhua cited deputy director of the Shunyi district reform and development commission Qin Yongjun as saying.

The Olympic rowing and canoeing centre in Shunyi was built especially for next August's Games and features a 3-km rowing lake which holds 1.7 million cubic metres of water.

Beijing sits in the arid north China plain, where water tables are falling fast due to climate change and rising consumption by farmers and booming cities.

EDIT

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKPEK31663220071022

[phantom power]

1. One of these fine days, there won't be anything to divert.

Checkmate.

[KansDem]

2. Why do we even bother with the Olympics?

I used to watch the Olympics while I was growing up. But it's lost a lot of the magic it once had.

The last time I watched it thoroughly was 1968. That year Bob Seagren won the pole vault with a gutsy move (as I recall correctly, he passed at his all-time height--or nearly all-time height--to clear the next height. No one else went higher, but because he had fewer attempts, he won). He inspired me to take up pole vaulting in high school.

Then came 1972 with the Munich killings;
Then came 1976 with the Dwight Stones controversy and the USA/USSR basketball game
Then came 1980 with the American boycott
Then came 1984 with the Soviet boycott
--Meanwhile the games became more and more commercialized with corporate logos;
--The "Up Close and Personal" mini-documentaries became all-too common with excruciating detail paid to less-than-interesting athletes;
--Then came the multi-million dollar endorsements contracts for winning athletes and the "outrage" in the corporate media when winner didn't get one;
--Then came the lopsided coverage with some events receiving much more time and exposure than others.

I remember hearing an interview in the late 1980s with Bob Richards, Olympic polevaulter who won the Gold Medal in 1952 and 1956. He said it was a great honor to go to the Olympics and that you considered yourself lucky to break even on your expenses. Not so anymore; now it's "multi-million dollar deals" with the athletes and the corporations.

Then I said "**** it!" I've got better ways to spend my time. Give me a Little League game; it's much more exciting!

edited to add :rant:

[AlecBGreen]

3. got that right!!!

"Give me a Little League game; it's much more exciting!"

My local high school's football is far more entertaining than most professional sports.