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IT’S NOT official yet but sailing looks set to be become the next extreme sport when the Olympic regatta starts tomorrow. If smog, strong currents and the absence of wind was not enough, there’s even more trouble lurking for the combined fleet of 400 sailors in Qingdao.

But the time for whinging about the vagaries of the Yellow Sea venue is long since gone; having completed two test events here last year and in 2006 the world’s top crews are resigned to a tortuous fate starting tomorrow. It is a series not only predicted to be cut short due to lack of wind but a washout of a sporting spectacle.