The World Rowing Federation (FISA) "gave a thumbs-up to Rio de Janeiro's much questioned water quality on Tuesday, with a report saying incidences of illness were much lower at the recent world junior championships than in previous years," according to Andrew Downie of REUTERS. The FISA sports medicine commission "surveyed the 54 national federations who took part in the August event at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, the same inner city lagoon where Olympic rowing events will be held next year." FISA said in a statement, "Forty national federations reported no illness among their team members during or after the event; 13 reported one to five cases of illness; and one team reported more than five cases of illness." FISA Exec Dir Matt Smith said, "Whenever a group travels together to another country, there is always a higher risk of illness" (REUTERS, 11/3).
NEW RAILWAY: China approved plans for a 58.41B yuan ($9.2B) high-speed rail project "which will be used during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing." The 174km-long railway, which will connect Beijing with the northern city of Zhangjiakou in Hebei province, "will be constructed over a four-and-a-half year period and will be able to ferry 60 million people annually" (REUTERS, 11/3).
