A Beijing Olympics official said on Friday that there will be an emergency plan for marathon if the last event is affected by adverse weather.

"We have put into consideration the possibility that the marathon event may encounter poor weather and have worked out an emergency plan accordingly," Liu Wenbin, deputy director of the Sports Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG), said at a press conference.

He did not elaborate the emergency plan, but said, "One thing is certain, all the sports events shall be finished before the Game's closing ceremony."

Marathon is the last competition at the Beijing Olympic Games to be started on the morning of August 24, according to the schedule.

The possibility that the sports event schedule has to be changed for pollution reason is very small and Beijing's air quality will not affect athletes' health, Liu cited two officials of the International Olympic Committee as saying.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2008)