Meterologist: Beijing concern is heat, not pollution

Meterologist: Beijing concern is heat, not pollution

By Stephanie Levitz, THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER - Efforts to cut back on pollution levels in China in the months leading to the Beijing Olympics have only resulted in a slight change, says the man in charge of forecasting for Canada's athletes.

But as he keeps an eye on the sky and sea, Doug Charko said it might not be pollution that poses the greatest threat to the race for gold this summer.

As the meteorologist for Canada's Olympic team for the 2008 Summer Games, it's Charko's job to provide ongoing weather forecasting for the athletes both in the lead-up to the Games and during the Olympics themselves.

He's been working with the team since 2006.

When he monitored the weather conditions in Beijing last August to create a model of what athletes could expect this summer, he found that Beijing's heat, humidity and solar radiation levels were higher than the international guidelines for safe participation in sport.

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