Eight pm on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008 is hours away. And the organisers of the Beijing Olympics are getting mighty nervous.

It may or may not pelt down when the opening ceremony begins at the allegedly auspicious hour on Friday night (noon GMT), and wreck the occasion for everyone involved, if not for the worldwide television audience. The TV shots are the International Olympic Committee’s main worry. If there is a storm, justice demands the IOC members get drenched.