Under the impressive title of "prince of the high-air", Adili Wuxor, a renowned wire-walking performer from Xinjiang, concluded his 60-day stay above the national stadium at 10:42 am on Thursday, smashing several Guinness records.

In particular, Adili set a record for the longest distance walked on a steel wire and the longest time spent at an elevated height, according to Yang Cheng, vice-president of the National Stadium Co Ltd.

During the last month and a half, Adili has walked back and forth on a thin steel wire, mostly for about five hours a day, during the daytime. At night, he resided in a nine square meter cubicle, built on the top of the Bird's Nest.

However, on the verge of descending as a Guinness record holder, Adili was more anxious than overjoyed.

"It was the most difficult challenge I have undertaken in the past 30 years," he said, in reference to an eye problem he received during the performance. "I will never take part in another endurance event again."

Adili said sunlight, reflected by the screens around the stadium, did considerable damage to his eyes.

"On the 48th day, I could not even see the steel wire," he said.

He also attributed his loss of vision to the dizzying white walls of his cubicle, in which he often tried in vain to sleep.

"I have not had a single decent night of sleep," he said, adding that frequent storms rattled his cage, quite literally. The light sleeper said even construction work in the stadium ruined his dreams.

"We acknowledged the difficulties Adili faced and tried our best to ensure his safety."

The design team of the stadium set up the equipment for the record attempt as if they were making a tank, Yang said, without elaborating on how this made him safe.

They also designed a special device to deliver food and drinks, he added.

With a total of 5 million yuan invested into the project, Yang was proud of the result.

"Almost 30 percent of the visitors to the stadium came especially to watch the performance," he said, quoting an in-house survey.

When Yang and Adili agreed on the performance earlier this year, they stated that they wanted to raise awareness of Uygur wire walking, which has a history of more than 2,000 years.