THE Olympic Games opening ceremony has been chopped by half an hour amid fears of delays at security checkpoints and stranding crowds and performers late at night.
Several acts have been shortened in the $A41 million extravaganza and one, involving daredevil flaming stunt bikes, has been axed.
Olympics chiefs altered the timetable in the wake of the failure by security firm G4S to provide enough guards — which has forced the Government to call in the Army.
A London 2012 source said: “The show has been cut because of fears that the checkpoints couldn’t cope with the huge rush in and out of the stadium.”
The ceremony, masterminded by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, is expected to be seen by a worldwide TV audience of one billion people.
It will transform the Olympic Stadium into rolling British countryside, complete with live farmyard animals.
Olympics chiefs altered the timetable in the wake of the failure by security firm G4S to provide enough guards — which has forced the Government to call in the Army.
A London 2012 source said: “The show has been cut because of fears that the checkpoints couldn’t cope with the huge rush in and out of the stadium.”
The ceremony, masterminded by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, is expected to be seen by a worldwide TV audience of one billion people.
It will transform the Olympic Stadium into rolling British countryside, complete with live farmyard animals.
“It’s not just crowds of fans, athletes and performers G4S and our soldiers will have to cope with — it’s dozens of live animals as well,” the source told London’s The Sun newspaper.
“All will have to be checked and searched before being allowed into the secure area. It’s a huge logistical challenge.”
Organisers hope cutting the running time down to three hours will help struggling security staff cope with 80,000 fans, 16,000 athletes, 10,000 performers, 70 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens, three cows, two goats, eight geese and three dogs.
Boyle and his team were worried that the show — starting at 9pm on Friday, July 27 — would leave the crowd and performers stranded in East London if it went on past midnight.
Performers arriving at Olympic Park for rehearsals have already faced delays of up to an hour to get in as security staff failed even to cope with a small number of people.
An actor playing a soldier in one of the segments said yesterday: “The queues on Saturday went way back into the Westfield shopping centre. It was worse than waiting at US immigration on a bad day.
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