BEIJING, July 16 (Reuters) - A massive algae bloom that threatened the Olympic Games sailing venue at the Chinese coastal resort of Qingdao has now been almost all cleared away, state media said on Wednesday.

The picturesque seaside city in northern China's Shandong province had been embarrassed by the unsightly algae that left swathes of offshore waters green and disrupted training for a number of Olympic sailing teams ahead of next month's Games.

"The sailing event, which will be held in more than 20 days, will not be threatened by the algae," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Wang Wei, vice president of Games organisers sailing committee, as saying.

Qingdao sent thousands of troops and volunteers to scoop up the green muck off beaches and offshore, and more than 1 million tonnes of algae has been cleared, the report added.

Two barriers have been installed to keep algae from the sailing venues and ships will also monitor the area, Xinhua said.

Sailing events are scheduled to start on Aug. 9.

Algae blooms regularly blight the shores of Qingdao, where Chinese tourists flock in their millions, but local residents say the current bloom is the biggest they have ever seen.

Officials have been at pains to cast the algae bloom as a harmless natural phenomenon, but local residents and scientists have expressed scepticism, blaming industrial pollutants and agricultural run-off for feeding the bloom. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by David Fox)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)

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