Australia has cleaned up polluted Homebush Bay and built athletic facilities meant to dazzle the world. But as with all Olympics, not all of the news about the venues has been good. There are still some big questions that won't be answered until competition gets under way. Some 15,000 athletes and officials will stay in Olympic Village at Homebush Bay, which will be the biggest solar-powered suburb in the world. But the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the governing body for track and field, is concerned enough about the potential for sharply varying winds that it is considering changing the rules for Olympic qualifying heats to eliminate wind as a factor.
Solar panels help provide energy.
Underwater weeds in the lakes there have grown out of control and have snagged some competitors' oars in test events. Australian Olympic hopefuls compete in the 100-meter backstroke race at the Aquatic Centre. But the biggest questions about the venues may have more to do with their future after the Olympics. Organizers say the Homebush Bay complex, a 20-minute train trip from downtown Sydney, will become the city's entertainment and sports hub. It lies at the geographic center of a city that is sprawling farther and farther west, they argue, and is therefore better-suited to attract spectators from those western areas than venues in the city's east, along the coast.