"China's new National Stadium is universally known, unwittingly reflects all the seemingly contradictory facets of these Games: the explosions of joy that inevitably punctuate each Olympics, no matter how political or compromised; the organisers willingness to ignore the mundane concerns of people whose modest homes and small businesses have been bulldozed for this festival of sport; and the darker undercurrents that came briefly to the surface with the arrests of two Britons and two Americans for unfurling a "FREE TIBET" banner on a bridge near the stadium."
"Close up the stadium, it's inner walls painte dark red, looks like a cage in which a beating heart lies trapped."
Richard Williams, The Guardian, August 7th 2008
