Beijing's 'Bird's Nest' delayed a month

The completion date for the Beijing Olympics's marquee venue has been pushed back by a month, a top organizer said, as workers put finishing touches on the stadium that symbolizes China's ambitions for the games.

Work on the futuristic "Bird's Nest" National Stadium has been slowed by preparations for the opening and closing ceremonies and it will not be ready until late April, Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee, told the China Daily newspaper.

"The construction of the venue and the background setting up for the ceremonies are going on together now, which has postponed the working progress of the Bird's Nest," he was quoted as saying in Thursday editions of the state-run paper. "The Bird's Nest will be the last but the best venue at the Beijing Games."

The main structure of the stadium was complete and only finishing touches remained, organizing committee spokesman Sun Weide told The Associated Press. A request for more details was e-mailed to the committee's media center, but an employee said they did not have further information.

With enormous twisted beams wound around the exterior like silver twigs in a nest, the 91,000 seat National Stadium is the centerpiece of the games, a massive prestige effort by the communist government.

Organizers have spared no effort or expense in preparing for the Beijing Olympics, which they want to use to showcase a modern, vibrant "new China." They have been meticulous in planning every little detail, down to specially breeding flowers that will bloom in the August heat.

The construction of sparkling new venues has been a key part of a multibillion- dollar modernization campaign for Beijing. Anchoring an Olympic Green that also includes a modern indoor stadium and the "Water Cube" aquatics center, the telegenic Bird's Nest is likely to be prominently featured in Olympic broadcasts around the world.

There have been few venue construction delays on the often-bumpy road to the games. While China has had to defend against criticism on everything from its dirty air to its diplomatic policies in Darfur, every venue but the Bird's Nest was completed on schedule by the end of last year.

The process has had hiccups, however. Two workers died during construction of the Bird's Nest, and a planned retractable roof had to be scrapped to cut costs.

There was no suggestion that the Bird's Nest would not be ready in time for the Games, which are five months away.

Jiang did not elaborate on the preparations for the opening and closing ceremonies — directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, the details are top secret.

Speculation among ordinary Chinese abounds on the Internet, with many guessing at how the Olympic flame will be lit during the Aug. 8 opening ceremony. A columnist for the Chinese edition of Sports Illustrated joked that Beijing's potent "erguotou" liquor (some varieties are 60 percent alcohol) should help set the Olympic cauldron ablaze.