million gallons of water were needed to cover the entire competition area. to put that in perspective, that's enough water to fill 74 olympic-sized swimming pools. then you have to consider all of the energy that goes into operating around the clock hundreds and hundreds of snow generators and snowmaking guns. it's an ecological travesty. it is the cherry on top. the athletes now say that the artificial snow is often significantly more dangerous to compete on. naturally, all of this raises the question. why? why are we tolding the winter games in a country that does not have natural snow? this on top of all the other scandals that are looming over the beijing games just makes the entire affair look farcical. if authoritarianism doesn't disqualify a country from hosting the olympics. if egregious human rights abuses are not a concern. and if having actual snow on the ground for athletes is no longer