Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) admitted that air pollution can cause problems for athletes during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and some events could even be postponed.

The statement was made on Wednesday in Beijing, where Rogge and other officials were participating at a glamorous ceremony organized by Chinese authorities to mark the beginning of a countdown that will end precisely on August 8, 2008 at 8:08 p.m. and 8 seconds.

“Definitely the endurance sports like the cycling [road] race, where you have to compete for six hours, these are examples of competitions that might be postponed or delayed to another day,” Rogge said.

Despite tremendous efforts to get every detail ready in time for the inauguration ceremony next year, the Chinese organizers have failed so far at dealing with pollution and traffic jams, issue that is bound to pose a serious problem during the major sporting event.

The organizing committee (BOCOG) announced it has a plan to substantially reduce air pollution during the Olympics, factories in Beijing’s vicinity being due to cease their activities for three weeks and cars will not circulate inside the metropolis.

Despite those bold plans, many participating nations were still skeptic BOCOG will be able to enforce those measures. Australia is one of the countries that decided to send its representatives to Beijing as late as possible in order to avoid negative effects pollution could have on their performances.

Even so, Beijing authorities continue with their daring projects aimed at making the event “the best in Olympic history.” Not even rain could entangle their plans, BOCOG announcing that special rockets are prepared to disperse clouds gathering above China’s capital.

The Chinese went all the way with their blueprints, beginning the construction of a national stadium in 2003 that would be the centerpiece of the Olympics. Its architecture is staggering, as the stadium dubbed the “Bird Nest” can hold most events and 80,000 people.

On fields where several years ago the wind was roaming freely, imposing structures were quickly raised and China keeps on marching towards its goal of climbing to the podium’s first step in a historical event.