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) arena will be the centerpiece 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 organizers are staging to fine-tune preparations ahead of the August 8-24 Games. The nearby National Aquatics Center, 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. Yang Shu'an, executive vice-president of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, said test events would ensure that “everything is in working order as far as the hosting parties are concerned.” All 31 of Beijing's Olympic venues were supposed to be finished by the end of 2007 but officials said the main stadium would be finished later, probably in May, because of the extra work needed to prepare it for the opening and closing ceremonies. Fixtures and fittings still need to be installed, including some of the 91,000 seats that will be in place for the Games. International Olympic Committee officials have repeatedly praised Beijing's venue construction and President Jacques Rogge, in Beijing last week, once again spoke highly of Games preparations. Work started on the stadium in December 2003 after a consortium led by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron won an international competition to build it. On Sunday, the stadium will host the finish to the Beijing marathon, another test event. Its first full dress rehearsal comes when it hosts the China Open athletics competition on May 22
