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“Bird’s Nest” makes debut

— Photo: Xinhua

Eye-catching: The National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, in Beijing on Friday.

BEIJING: “Bird’s Nest,” the main venue of the Beijing Olympics, debuted here on Friday with an Australian race-walker grabbing the gold in an IAAF Race Walking competition.

Jared Tallent won in one hour 20 minutes 11 seconds and was followed by China’s Wang Hao in 1:20:25 — his personal best. Mexico’s Eder Sanchez came third in 1:20:57.

Both Tallent and Wang were among the leading group in most time of the competition. After three laps inside the sports venue, with a monicker of the Bird’s Nest for its interlocking frame and structure, the athletes competed along the park-view boulevard surrounding the stadium.

“The stadium is fantastic and has been well prepared,” said a joyous Tallent. “It’s my first international gold and I’m very happy to be the first winner of the new stadium.” “I was a little nervous when I was shown the foul yellow card in the second last lap outside,” said Wang, an Inner Mongolian walker aged 18, citing he was excited as walking back into the stadium.

All the medallists grumbled about the concrete road outside the Bird’s Nest in the competition. Sanchez said, “it’s much harder to walk on concrete road than on tarmac, and I need adapt myself in preparing for the coming Olympics.” The concrete surface is evidently harder than the tarmac used in most of race-walking events and it will bring more impact to athletes especially those participating in the 50-km race. “Anyway,” Tallent said, “I am very happy to be the first winner of the stadium.” “It is my first international winning and event in China is very hard to win,” he added, citing that floating catkin in the Spring Beijing was somewhat annoying but not that deciding to his performance.

Sanchez said the air in Mexico City was similar to that in Beijing, so he had quite adapted to it.

In the women’s 20-km competition, China bagged all three medals. Liu Hong from Guangdong won in one hour 29 minutes and 33 seconds, narrowly beating Yang Yawei posted the same time. Shi Yang cam third in 1:29:39. All the three are hot candidates for the Chinese national team in the Olympics.

The IAAF Race Walking Challenge followed a marathon competition that unveiled the use of the national stadium. Test events at the venue, scheduled to host the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, track and field competition and some soccer games, will include another IAAF contest in May.

The authorities also tried out the security checks. Stern-faced cadets, temporarily recruited from police academies, almost groped through non-sensitive body parts after visitors passed security inspection gates. Bottled water and lighters, in addition to hazardous material were officially banned from bringing into the stadium. The prolonged security procedure triggered a little impatience among the people waiting for a couple of hours in the warm air in late Spring.

The IAAF Race Walking competition is one of the 42 test events before the Olympics in August. China sent the most athletes to the competition, which included walkers from Australia, El Salvador, Japan, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia. — Xinhua

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