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AERIAL V Olympic stadium under construction ( 2 shots)
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TV PAN DOWN Reinforced steel rods at site of swimming centre
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SV Men at work on swimming centre
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GV PAN Concrete construction of roof, with tractors moving concrete pillars into position (3 shots)
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AERIAL V Olympic stadium under construction
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Initials BB/1850 EW/AW/BB/1905


SPORT: OLYMPICS

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Work on the multi-million door site for the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada, is progressing ... as speedily as the Canadian olympic organisers can push it forward.

Two shifts of 1,000 men are working ten hours a day, six days a week, in an attempt to compensate for days lost during a series of lengthy industrial dispute on the site earlier in the year.

Despite doubts that Olympic Park would not be ready for the Games, Montreal's Mayor, M. Jean Drapeau is now confident that the site will be completed long before the opening of the extravaganza in nine month's time.

The ellipse-shaped main stadium -- which architects say will resemble a huge sea-shell when finished -- measures 480 meters (520 yards) across at its widest point. A canting mast, 163.4 metres (185 yards)high overshadows the structure, and will provide a collapsible membraned roof...in case of bad weather.

Below the mast, lies the new swimming centre, Under its three cupola, the centre will house a full-size Olympic pool, a diving pool and a training pool. When completed, it will hold ten thousand spectators...but as yet, the stadium looks more like the iron skeleton of some prehistoric beast.

To counter the claims of pessimists who say the site will not be completed by July 1976, work on the Olympic velodrome -- where the cycling events will be held -- has almost ended...and the Olympic village nearby was finished ahead of schedule.