LONDON -- Red, twisted and 72 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty, the ArcelorMittal Orbit now looms over the Olympic Park as the tallest sculpture in Great Britain.

Designed by Turner Prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor and architect Cecil Balmond, tabloid newspapers have branded it "the Eye-ful Tower," "the Godzilla of public art" and worse. Others say it looks like a roller coaster gone badly awry.

Even London's normally garrulous Mayor Boris Johnson struggles to describe the $36-million structure. "It is very absorbing to look at," he says. "It has got that weird enigmatic tubey Fallopian quality about it if I'm being totally blunt."

'A 45-second conversation'
The idea for what has been called a "deconstructed Eiffel Tower" was formulated in 2009, when Johnson and steel magnate Laksmi Mittal discussed creating something dramatic for the Olympics while attending the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.  

 

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"This was conceived in a 45-second conversation in a cloakroom!" Johnson recalled on Friday, as officials announced the 2,000-ton tower had been completed.

Mittal contributed $31 million to the project, with the rest of the cost being covered by public funds. However, the sculpture has proved controversial at a time when the U.K. is grappling with massive spending cuts.

Kapoor says he expected to evoke a mixture of responses to his latest work. "When you make a new addition of this scale to the London skyline, its bound to be controversial, and there are those who love it and those who don’t and we'll see what time does," he said.

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Kapoor noted that Paris's iconic Eiffel Tower was considered "the most tremendously ugly object" by many when it was first built. 

Belmond, who described the looping structure as "a curve in space," said he thought people would be won over by it.

Visitors will be able to pay $24 to go up the 35-story structure in an elevator when it opens during the Olympic Games in July.

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On a clear day, views from its observation deck extend for 20 miles across London and the green hills beyond.

The tower will be at the heart of a new 560-acre park, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, that will include a lush river valley, biking trails and a tree-lined promenade. 

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After the Games, Johnson says he expects millions will visit the Orbit, and that it will be become a landmark. 

He believes other Londoners will come to love it, too.

"I think so," he said, then paused. "In the end."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

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Reporter's Notebook

KABUL – Michael Vick would feel right at home here.

Just north of Kabul, on the edge of the mountains, around 1,000 people recently  gathered in the cold for a dog fight. The crowd was basically all men, of all ages, even babies, sharing in a tradition that has been going on for hundreds of years.
 
Dog fights are popular all over the country, and in some cases gambling is involved. In this particular case, we were told there was no gambling taking place, although I’m not sure that was true.
 
The dog fight is led by an old man, the fight master,  who stands with a stick. He rules the show and is very powerful and very confident. The crowds gather in a series of circles, and no one steps out of line. Only the dog owners and their dogs are allowed to enter the circle.

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At the start of the fight, there is a green cloth between the dogs so they cannot see each other. The dogs are held by their owners without leashes. Then the cloth is dropped, and the dogs run towards each other and start the fight.

Contrary to common belief, the goal is not for the dogs to kill one another. The winner is the dog that best controls the other – usually by holding on to the skin that surrounds the dogs’ necks – which is decided by the old man. And once he has made his pronouncement, the fighting stops immediately.
 
I know that the notion of dog-fighting is very controversial. I understand this view – I have had dogs, and love these animals. But at the same time, the dogs do not die and the owners do not want their animals to get hurt.

In fact, the dog owners are very protective of their animals. After all, owning a fighting dog is an expensive proposition for an Afghan. One dog owner told us that the prices for a fighting dog start at $500 and go as high as $10,000 – a lot of money anywhere, but particularly in Afghanistan.  The owners seemed to care for their dogs and treated them with respect.

That said, Afghans tend not to be concerned about cruelty to animals. Taking care of their fighting dogs is more about protecting a valuable asset.

After the fights were over, the elderly fight master told us that he has been going to fights since he was a 10-year-old, attending at first with his father. This is a part of Afghan tradition, a way of life and a bit of excitement on Fridays, the day of rest here.

NBC News’ Kiko Itasaka contributed to this report.

KABUL – It was known as the stadium of death. Ghazi Stadium was where the Taliban held public executions, stonings and mutilations during their brutal rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. This once blood-soaked pitch is now a field of dreams. 

The stadium was recently reopened after a U.S.- funded refurbishment and thousands of Afghan athletes gathered to celebrate the event.

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It is impossible to forget the dark history of this arena, but Mohammed Sabher Sharifi is determined to move on.  

"There were many people killed, especially women. Now it is for the young generation of sportsmen, especially the females,” Sharifi said Sunday as he pointed toward an Olympic flag which stands next to the Afghan flag and will remain there until the 2012 games.

As a member of the Afghan National Olympic committee and coach of the women's boxing team, Sharifi faces a daunting task. He wants to create a winning team of female boxers.

Every afternoon, in the basement of Ghazi Stadium, in a small, dusty room with battered punch bags and cracked mirrors he oversees 20 teenage girls, as they jump, jog, jab and thrust.

Photoblog: Young Afghan women at boxing training session in Kabul

"Yes, you see, the girls, they can do anything – and look at their strong punches!” he exclaimed.

The young Afghan boxers arrive at practice fully covered, looking like demure young ladies, but within 10 minutes of starting their rigorous workout, their headscarves are cast off, and they look like sportswomen from all over the world, glowing with health and beaming with hope.

The stars of the team are the Rahimi sisters – 18-year-old Shabnam and 17-year-old Sadaf. At the recent World Boxing Championship in Tajikistan, Shabnam won a gold medal and Sadaf a silver medal, making Afghan sports history.

Boxing is an unusual choice for any young woman, anywhere in the world, but in deeply conservative Afghanistan, it is an act of courage.

“Yes, we have a lot of problems. Here in Afghanistan they think we should stay home, not go to school, and never boxing,” said Sadaf. She said they have received threatening phone calls, but that has not stopped them.

Shabnam, her older sister, said she boxes not just for herself, but for her country. “My dream is that I should represent my country all over the world, especially in the Olympics, raising the flag for my country.”   

She brushed aside local criticism of female boxing. "I just want to box, shoulder to shoulder with the men, and show I can do it." 
Her sister, Sadaf, added, "When we were little, we had a male cousin who was a boxer, and we wanted to be like him."

They both realize that they are among the first generation of women to be granted this opportunity to fight; women boxing in public or competing in sports was a punishable offense under the Taliban. Women's boxing is a new Olympic sport, too.  The International Olympic Committee only voted to include women's boxing in the 2012 Summer Games in London in August 2009.

Coach Sharifi said he has faith in his team, but that they need help, especially financially.  

"We get $1 a day for each athlete. What shall we do? We have poor equipment, we cannot train like others," he said. The team cannot afford to buy decent punching bags, let alone build a proper boxing ring.

But Shabnam remains optimistic. Raising her fists in the air, and with halting English she said, "I see you London 2012!"

The sisters may not win medals at the Olympic Games.  Indeed they may not even qualify for the games. They need to win their places in May at the World Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao, China.

But they have already won a victory: They have shown what Afghan young women who pack a punch can achieve. The Olympic dream is theirs.

Related link: Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee web site