With eight months to go before the start of the Olympics only one venue remains to be completed - the national stadium and site for the opening and closing ceremonies. The stadium is due to be completed by March 2008.

“This year, venue construction was under way according to plan. All the new venues were finished as scheduled by the end of the year,” said Jiang Xiaoyu, spokesman and executive vice president for the Beijing Games.

The swimming center, dubbed the “ice cube” is now complete and will host a test event next January.

Read more: All but 1 Beijing Olympics venues complete, 8 months before Games