BLUE SKY BLUES#1: The smog-shrouded view from an office in Beijing. One of the most contentious promises of the Beijing Games was the organiser's vow to hold a "Green Olympics" - an environmentally-friendly event backed up by 256"blue sky days" in 2008, up from just 100 in 1998. But the persistent gray pall that hung over Beijing for weeks on end appeared to mock the government's talk of "blue skies" and a "Green Games". Beijing took drastic measures weeks before the Games by shutting down or suspending polluting factories, halting construction, and taking over half the city's 3.3 million cars off the roads. The measures worked, with state media reporting that Beijing enjoyed its best air quality in a decade during the Games. But the results from these unsustainable measures did not last. Air pollution returned weeks after the interim measures taken during the Olympics and Paralympics were lifted.