SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- The site of the Olympic sailing competition is largely clear of the bright-green algae that until recently had covered the sea off the city of Qingdao, a Chinese official said.

ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Chinese government met their goal of clearing the sailing site by mid-July.The Chinese government met their goal of clearing the sailing site by mid-July. The sailing events will be held at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center starting today and they will wrap up on August 21.

"It's hard to find the green algae, especially in the Olympics sailing site," Wang Haitao, vice president of the sailing committee for China's games organizing committee, told the Associated Press by telephone.

The sea-blanketing algae bloom, which officials blamed on natural causes, had disrupted practice for the more than 30 Olympic sailing teams who arrived on site early. Carrie Howe, a member of the U.S. team, wrote of "vile smells in the water" and the "endless clinging algae islands," in her blog.

To save the site for the Olympics, the Chinese government called on thousands of soldiers, volunteers and fishing boats to help remove the algae. While the site of the Olympic competition is clear, the cleanup has continued outside the barrier of fishnets and canvas that's being used to keep the algae out of the competition area.

"We sent out 1,700 fishing boats to search for algae over the whole sea area in Qingdao, but they only got 10,000 tons," Wang on July 15. "Compared with days before, that's big progress."

"We are happy to report that the algae outbreak seems to have been successfully tackled by the hundreds of dedicated ships, fishing boats and thousands of workers," Howe wrote on her team's Web site. "Efforts have even extended to a seemingly endless floating boom to protect the waters of Fusan Bay."

ASSOCIATED PRESSThe sea-blanketing algae bloom, which officials blamed on natural causes, had disrupted practice for the more than 30 Olympic sailing teams on site.