A tour of what will be the heart of the 2008 Olympic Games showed that the building of the National Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held, was making good progress.

Sixteen of the hollow steel trusses that will hold in place the "Bird's Nest" roof of the 3.03 billion yuan ($377.8 million) National Stadium are already clinging to the side of the concrete structure.

Complicated task
Once the remaining six trusses are in place, the complicated task of fitting the interlocking pieces together, forming a dramatic twisting superstructure atop the venue, will begin.

The equally ambitious 1.02 billion yuan Aquatic centre is less recognizable with only a skeleton of the honeycomb steel structure visible through the scaffolding enshrouding a huge rectangular block.

Eventually some of the 17,000 workers currently employed on the Beijing projects will stretch a membrane over the whole of the exterior of the building giving a final effect of water flowing down the walls.

Keeping water out of the National Stadium for the opening ceremony is exercising minds among organizers after they decided last year to abandon plans for a retractable roof for cost reasons.

"We are considering what to do if it rains..." said Jun. "But I'm really hoping August 8, 2008 will be a propitious day."