Would-be stripper had "mental problems"

BEIJING (Reuters) - A woman who tried to strip as the athletes paraded during the opening of the Beijing Paralympics has mental problems, Chinese state media said on Sunday.

The opening ceremony on Saturday night was briefly disrupted when the Chinese woman entered the Bird's Nest stadium and tried to remove her clothes as the athletes marched in, but was later "persuaded" to leave, the Xinhua news agency said.

"Relevant departments have found out that the woman, who came from Guangdong province, is a psychiatric patient," Xinhua quoted Wang Hui, head of the publicity department of the Beijing organizers, as telling a news conference.

"When the athletes were marching in the stadium, the woman suddenly intruded into the ground and attempted to strip ... The stadium staff took notice of her action and stopped her in time," she added.

Beijing opened the Paralympic Games in spectacular fashion on Saturday two weeks after the end of a hugely successful Olympics.

(Reporting by Nick Macfie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)