Pollution 'biggest issue' says Australian Olympic chief

By Nick Mulvenney

BEIJING (Reuters) - Australian athletes have been advised to delay their arrival for the 2008 Olympics because of the poor air quality in Beijing, the country's Olympic chief, John Coates, said on Tuesday.

The Chinese capital is notoriously polluted and cleaning up the air is one of the biggest obstacles facing organizers in the year remaining until the Games open on August 8, 2008.

"It's the probably the biggest issue for us and our team," Coates told reporters on the sidelines of the briefing for the Chefs de Mission for 2008 Olympic delegations.

"The head coaches have gathered enough information to certainly confirm that we would not be recommending a long period in China before the Games," he added

"That only is going to increase the possibility of respiratory or gastro illness ... "

Coates said the athletes would to do their final preparations at home before going to the Olympic village, as the Australian athletes did for the Seoul Games in 1988.

"You won't be seeing too many of our athletes until four or five days before their competition," he said.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president said Beijing organizers had confirmed that they would taking a large proportion of the city's 3 million cars of the road this month to test the effect on pollution and ease congestion.

"We were advised that cars will be coming off the road for a trial period in the next few weeks," he added.

"They're talking of a million cars coming off the roads and that's what I suspect will happen during the Games and more if necessary."

CLOUD OF SMOG

Wang Wei, vice president of the Beijing organizing committee (BOCOG), said on Monday that plans to take a million cars off the roads were still being studied and would only be carried out on a voluntary basis.

Although a cloud of smog blanketed Beijing on Tuesday morning, the Beijing Meteorological Office categorized it as a "blue sky day" -- where pollution levels are "fairly good" or better.

"I haven't done any scientific tests but it certainly doesn't look too good in downtown Beijing," said Coates. "But there are steps being taken."

State media on Tuesday quoted a BOCOG traffic official as saying that some 200 km (120 miles) of roads would have special "Olympic Lanes" during Games time and that banning cars with odd and even number plates on alternate days was being considered.