Two miles (four kms) outside Munich the site for the twentieth modern Olympic Games begins (April 26) to look the way planners envisaged it five years ago.

The huge plexiglass roof which will cover the stadiums at a cost of nearly 17-million pounds is in place, the television tower, with revolving restaurant on top, finished, and the Olympic village -- originally designed for eight-thousand world class athletes, but since modified to accommodate up to 16-thousand -- is nearing completion. Nearby are the women's quarters: separated from the men's by a six-foot (1.8m) fence.

Munich itself, connected to the Olympic site by an underground train network completed ion March, is the scene of feverish activity, notably the building of new hotels. Six months before the August opening date approximately 2.3 million of the 3.8 million tickets available had already been sold. Tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies, afternoon track and field competitions, for many semifinal and final events, are already all gone.

Final cost of this sixteen day sports spectacular is now expected to be 1972-million marks - GBP240-million Sterling: compared with 500-million marks (GBP60-million) estimated in 1966. The stunning price-increase is partly due to inflation, partly to increasingly ambitious enlargements of original plans. The Munich Olympics, for example, will be distinguished for as spectacular a programme of cultural events as for the Games themselves.

The record price-tag will be paid largely from special fund-raising schemes, lotteries, television rights and tickets. Between them they're expected to raise 65 percent of the total needed. The rest will come from federal, state and city funds. When it's all over Munich will have -- for an outlay of its own of GBP20-million -- a splendid new public transport system, and one of the world's finest permanent sports centres.

This Visnews film shows the condition of the site just four months before the Games open on August 26. The Games finish on September 10.