'Green nightmare' ahead for Olympic sailors

Scattered patches of the algae were beginning to stink, some sailors said.

The 30 or so Olympic teams already training at Qingdao are preparing for the possibility that the algae won't be gone before the games. "Everyone's a bit skeptical about how they will get it done," Howe said.

Chinese officials have appealed to Qingdao's civic pride — and fishermen's wallets — to fight the algae bloom as quickly as possible, with the goal of clearing the competition zone by July 15.

Already, 170 tons have been cleared away, said Zang Aimin, an executive board member of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.

"As far as protecting the competition area, I'm confident we can do it," she said, adding that Navy dredging boats were on the way.

'Come on in'
Gojnich was impressed by the response of Chinese fishing boats. "It's like being surrounded by the Spanish Armada," she said. But some athletes and coaches say the algae seems to keep coming back.

Chinese officials promise a system of nets to hold the roaming algae back from the Olympics sailing area, as well as daily briefings on the cleanup effort. They also hope winds from the north will blow the algae away, and soon.

Eager to show off their efforts, officials took journalists on a barge Wednesday afternoon to watch a massive pumping system suck up swathes of Qingdao's bright green headache, plowing through the tide like a vacuum cleaner.

"This has nothing to do with bad luck," said Wang Zhijun, head of Qingdao's harbor administration office, as he watched the pump, smiling for the cameras. "This is just nature."

Back on shore, a group of Chinese swimmers, most of them retirees, jumped into the harbor and ignored the bits of algae that clung to their naked backs.

"Well, it's not poison," said Zhong Pihua, teasing. "Come on in."

More from msnbc.com Move over, feds — locals try stimulus, too  Daily Nightly: Tim McGraw helps neighbors in need Were you paying attention? Take our weekly quiz World Blog: China puts foot down on 'Oba Mao' T-shirts Scoop: Levi Johnston poses with only a hockey stick Stimulus tracker: See where millions of dollars went On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM ENVIRONMENT

Environment Section Front

Clinton: No binding climate treaty likely U.N. report puts dollar value on ecosystems Huge Andes lake is drying up Record high temps are double the lows Warming drives off Cape Cod's namesake Iceberg drifts off island south of Australia Brazil: Big drop in Amazon deforestation Brown pelicans coming off endangered list Landfill near Joshua Tree park a no go Russia launches program to save tigers worldwide Environment Section Front   Add Environment headlines to your news reader: