Moving the Modules into National Stadium (More Detail)

Sunday morning, Aug. 10, the modules began their journey from the module nursery to the National Stadium (Bird's Nest). The first modules were placed in the stadium at 8 a.m.

Placing the modules on the floor of the stadium. Each module was carefully positioned and fixed into place.

Work was initially slow going because stadium workers were still breaking down the opening ceremony platform and setting up an unidentified structure that will be hidden under the field during the events. It's likely that the structure will be used in the closing ceremonies. Dr. Rogers, his daughter Rebecca, Dr. Zhao and Chris Scott, of GreenTech (the manufacturer of the modules), arrived Sunday morning to watch the move and make some final recommendations.

MSU turf researcher Trey Rogers (left) and Chris Scott, of GreenTech, inspect the field.

Work went on until about 6 p.m. that night and then started again at 8 a.m. on Monday morning. The pace got much faster on Monday because the stadium crew made way for the module movers. There were about 60 to 100 workers, 10 forklifts and countless trucks delivering, moving and placing modules -- the stadium looked like an ant colony crawling with activity.

Workers fixed the module seams with pitch forks and by hand, making the surface level by using tamps. The edges between the modules and the track were filled first with stone, then with sand and then covered with sod.

A worker fixes a seam in between modules by hand.

The edges between the turf and the track were filled in with stone and sand and then covered with sod.

Work continued into the night until the final modules were put in place at 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning (Aug. 12).

The grass looks good and is ready for play. Bring on the Olympians! The field will be used for track and field competition from Aug. 15-24 and wil be the site of the men's football (soccer to Americans) finals on Aug. 24.

After about 30 hours of work, the field is in and beautiful!

To celebrate the successful move-in, Dr. Rogers, Rebecca, Dr. Zhao, Heidi (my wife) and I went to watch softball at the Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center. We saw Canada beat Chinese Taipei 6 to 1, then saw the United States beat Venezuela by mercy ruling in the fifth inning.

-- Alec Kowalewski