April 18, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1429

BEIJING, April 17: Beijing’s eye-catching main Olympic stadium, better known as the ‘Bird’s Nest’, will open for business for the first time on Friday when it hosts a world-class athletics event.

The 3.5-billion-yuan (500-million-dollar) arena will be the centrepiece of the Beijing Games, staging the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletic competition.

Though it remains unfinished, the iconic stadium which gained its nickname thanks to its interlocking structure of steel beams, will throw open its doors to an estimated 20,000 paying customers for an IAAF men’s race-walking competition.

It is one of 42 test events that Beijing Olympic organisers are staging to fine-tune preparations ahead of the Aug 8-24 Games.

The nearby National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Water Cube and the second of Beijing’s two iconic Olympic venues, was completed in December and staged its first test event in February, the China Open swimming competition.

Work still remains to be done on the ‘Bird’s Nest’ although the overall structure is finished and athletes competing on Friday and those in more races scheduled for Saturday are not expected to be inconvenienced.—AFP