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Premier Wen Jiabao shoots a basketball during a trip to the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, August 3, 2008. (Xinhua)

Premier Wen Jiabao (R) receives a basketball signed by all the players of the Chinese men’s basketball team from China’s center Yao Ming during a trip to the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, August 3, 2008. (Xinhua)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao plays pingpang with a local resident in the Dajing neighborhood of the Fengtai District during his inspection tour on August, 3, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

Blue skies smiled over Beijing for the fourth day in a row and excitement filled its air Sunday as Premier Wen Jiabao promised a clean, green and beautiful city during and after the Olympic Games.

A day earlier, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge cleared another “layer of haze” by praising the Beijing Games organizers for their work and labeling the Olympic Village the “best ever”.

Premier Wen visited athletes and met with volunteers and utility workers five days before the Games. Thanks to the efforts of the entire society, the Beijing Olympics will satisfy the athletes, officials and the spectators at home and abroad, he said.

“China is a responsible country. We will fulfill the promises we made for the Olympics. We will not only host a quality and unique Games, but also build a more scenic, greener and more civilized city in a sustainable manner.”

Wen and senior officials of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee (BOCOG), Liu Qi, Liu Yandong and Guo Jinlong, visited the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, where the Chinese men’s team was training.

Wen shook hands with the players and coaches, including NBA star Yao Ming, who has recovered fully from his left foot injury. “Are you feeling well? Is your foot okay?” Wen said. Yao replied that he was fine.

“I loved playing basketball when I was a kid,” the premier said. “It’s still my favorite game.” And then he joined the players to shoot hoops.

The Chinese hoopsters will take on the mighty Americans in their first game on Aug 10. “Your first game will attract great attention,” Wen said. “You need confidence and win or lose, it’s important to have the sporting spirit.”

Wen signed the basketball with which he went for the hoops, and the team presented him with one signed by all the players. The premier encouraged the volunteers at the stadium to serve “in a careful and serious manner with a strong sense of responsibility”.

With the sun shining brightly and the premier going about town visiting Olympic venues, officials dismissed fears over rescheduling endurance events because the level of pollution has gone down drastically.

Though the average air pollution index rose to 35 yesterday from Saturday’s 34, it was still “excellent”. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has said a pollution reading below 50 is “excellent”, from 51 to 100 is “fairly good”.

From the data gathered over the past few days, “I believe the chance of rescheduling any event because of air quality is very low,” Fan Yuansheng, director of MEP’s pollution control, said.

“Excellent” air quality has been recorded on all the three days of this month. And overall, Beijing has had 152 “blue skies” or days with fairly good air quality.

Fan attributed the improvement in air quality to the emission control measures. “If environmental departments foresee serious air pollution during the Olympics, Beijing and neighboring areas will close more factories temporarily and pull more cars off the roads,” he said.

Government vehicles have been told to stay off the roads one day a week in the latest clean air initiative.

On the Games organizational front, Jacques Rogge credited Beijing for its work and providing the best possible facilities for athletes and officials. “It’s a totally different ball game (from the Athens Games),” he said on Saturday, reminding journalists that media headlines a week before the 2004 Olympics were on the delay in the completion of venues and the lack of organization.

“Today we have absolutely no concerns for the organization,” he told journalists at the Main Press Center as fireworks of the Games’ opening ceremony rehearsals lighted up the sky around the National Stadium.

“I am sure that on the 9th of August, the day after the Opening Ceremony, the magic of the Games and the flawless organization will take over,” the IOC president said, addressing his first conference in Beijing in the run-up to the Games.

He talked on many subjects, from media freedom, doping, the lifting of the ban on Iraqi athletes, and China’s rise in sports and athlete’s freedom of expression.

Praising the Olympic Village, he said: “I have had the privilege of staying in Olympic villages since the 1968 Mexico Games, and I have never seen a village like this. It is outstanding.”

Workers walk past the National Olympic Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, at the Olympic Green in Beijing July 29, 2008. [Agencies]

Beijing finally cooled on Tuesday as a brief heavy shower embraced the city around noon after a hot and humid week.

The rain, though lasting only 10 minutes, will hopefully help restore confidence in the city’s air quality, according to Guo Hu, Beijing Meteorological Observatory director.

“The rare lack of rain and wind to blow away accumulated emissions contributed to the city’s substandard air quality,” he said, admitting a number of days had failed to meet the local standard for good air quality despite the capital’s car control measures.

“The temperature and humidity will gradually drop and we will have better air quality and more comfortable weather in August.”

His confidence was shared by many as the city goes through every detail to fulfill the dream of billions on its 10-day countdown to the August Olympics.

Chinese Athletes Eyeing First Gold

With the Beijing Olympic Games around the corner, eager Chinese are crossing fingers for a gold spree on home soil. Du Li, a gold medal winner in the women’s 10-meter air rifle at the 2004 Athens Olympics, bears the expectation of millions to score the Game’s first win.

The 26-year-old, who established a new world record for women’s10-meter air rifle in 2003 just one year after she entered the national team, further impressed the world the following year with her Athens victory.

However, the native of the eastern Shandong Province has struggled of late.

During three World Cup events this year, Du pocketed only one gold medal in the 50-meter rifle three positions, rather than in her speciality event, the 10-meter air rifle. Her second best result was a fourth.

The so-called home advantage at the upcoming Games may turn into a disadvantage for Du in defending as applause and spectators’ cheers might add burden in a sport where psychological stability is most important.

Despite the difficulties, Du is eager for a good result. “Maybe this is the only chance for me to compete in the Olympic Games hosted by my own country.”

Wang Yifu, the national shooting team head coach, said, “The main focus of the shooters at this point of time is the adjustment of their psychological status rather than refining technical skills.”

Du and her teammates will leave for the Olympic Village on August 3.

Olympic Village in Operation

The Olympic Village officially opened its gates on Sunday. By July 28, delegations and advance teams from more than 70 countries had arrived at the 66-hectare complex.

From Italian lasagna to Beijing roast duck to kosher foods, athletes from more than 200 countries and regions may find their favorite home foods in the village.

The diversity of meals, divided into different zones including Chinese, Asian, international and Mediterranean, underlines the meticulous preparation in the village that houses about 16,000 athletes, coaches and their entourages.

“The food here tastes very good and there are many entertaining facilities, including Internet bars,” 20-year-old Hector Fuentes told Xinhua. The Cuban triple jumper, participating in his first Olympics, said the village had gone beyond his expectation.

Deng Yaping, the Olympic Village deputy director, said the facilities are “a place where the athletes can unwind and get to know Chinese culture. We want to give them a full experience with Chinese culture.”

The table tennis legend, a winner of four Olympic gold medals, said the priority work at the village for the next 10 days was the reception of athletes from around the world.

“All sport delegations will arrive at the village before the Games start. The village is now in 24-hour operation to accommodate the guests. We will try to make every operation as smooth as possible,” she said.

Ten Days to Perfection

A grand show will be held at 8 pm on Tuesday by the China Central Television to mark the 10-day countdown to the Beijing Games.

While the content of the Olympics’ opening ceremony remains a guarded secret, organizers are planning to stage three dress rehearsals over the next 10 days to ensure a grand show for a live audience of 91,000.

The first full dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games was held, in secret, at the National Stadium on July 16.

Wang Chaoge, a director of the ceremony, disclosed the elements of “Sichuan” and “Wenchuan” will be embodied in tribute to the Chinese spirit manifested after the devastating May 12 earthquake that hit the southwest Sichuan Province.

He said the biggest headache for the organizers of the ceremonies was the weather, for “rain would cause delays in the progress of the event, as it would dampen performers’ costumes and props.”

But Beijing’s meteorological departments said earlier that should there be any unfavorable weather, experts might artificially change it.

Chen Zhenlin, China Meteorological Administration (CMA) vice director, said on July 15 that meteorologists have made preparations for artificial weather modification since 2003, especially on reducing rainfall, but admitted the technology had limitations.

“Artificial weather modification could be useful when a drizzle occurs,” he said. “But in case of a heavy rainfall, no one can help.”

Weather statistics from 1951 to 2007 show there was a 47 percent chance of drizzle on Aug. 8. But the possibility of heavy rain was slim, he said, adding the analysis of historical data was by no means an official weather forecast.

According to meteorologist Guo Hu, the Games opening on Aug. 8 is one day after the first day of autumn on the Chinese lunar calendar. It is expected to be less humid.

“The temperature and humidity will gradually drop and we will have better air quality and more comfortable weather in August.”

MADRID? July 30 (Xinhua) — The first Spanish competitors for the Olympic Games flew out from Madrid’s Barajas airport on Wednesday for Beijing.

The group consisted of the women’s basketball team? the handball team?boxers? gymnasts? water polo players? archers? sailors and canoeists? amongothers.

The second batch of competitors will leave next Wednesday. Among them is women’s 1?500 meters runner Natalia Rodriguez? who booked her ticket at the lastminute.

Rodriguez qualified for the Olympics with a performance of 4.03?68 in Monaco and will now be added to the athletics squad which was presented to the press in Madrid on Tuesday.

ATHENS, Greece - An astronomical calculator, considered a technological marvel of antiquity, was also used to track dates of the ancient Olympic games, researchers have found.

Experts from Britain, Greece and the United States said they have detected the word “Olympia” on a bronze dial, as well as the names of other games in ancient Greece on the device known as the Antikythera Mechanism.

Their findings will be reported Thursday in the British science journal Nature.

The 2,100-year-old Antikythera Mechanism was recovered from an ancient shipwreck in 1901 near Antikythera, a small island off Greece’s south coast.

Its insides look like a clock. About 30 bronze gears were cranked to calculate phases of the moon, eclipses and other celestial information specific to a certain date. Results were displayed on dials on the front and back of the mechanism.

Most workings of the device only came to light with recent advances in scanning technology and computer processing power.

In 2005, an X-ray tomography machine was brought from Britain to the National Archaeological museum of Athens, which houses the device’s corroded and sediment-encrusted remains. Researchers soon found the gear structure — including the number of teeth cut into the wheels — corresponded to known theories of celestial cycles.