BEIJING, April 18: Complaints from athletes about a “dangerous” race-walking course overshadowed the long-awaited competition debut Friday of China’s eye-catching National Stadium, the main Olympic venue.

Better known as the Bird’s Nest, 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 athletics events.

But controversy erupted Friday after 50 athletes competed in the first event ever staged there — a 20 kilometre men’s race walk won by Australian Jared Tallent (Earlier story on page 25).

The walkers completed three laps of the stadium track before filing out to race nine times around a two-kilometre looped circuit nearby and then returning to the Bird’s Nest for the finish.

Hatem Ghoula of Tunisia, a bronze medallist in the world championships last year, said stone slabs on the circuit outside the stadium were too hard. “I think this course is very hard,” said Ghoula, who finished seventh. “I think for 50km it will be dangerous.”The men’s 50km race takes place Saturday as part of a two-day IAAF race-walking challenge that includes a women’s 20km race later Friday.

All the top finishers complained about the surface, including Tallent, 23, after winning his first ever international race. “It is quite hard on the legs being concrete,” he said “It does cause a lot more of an impact, especially for the 50k race.

“It is not what we are used to because 90 per cent of time we race on asphalt. We have never raced on such a hard surface,” he said “We train and race on roads which is a bit different.”

Sanchez said the hard ground reduced speed and added wear on bones and joints.

“The hard ground has a bigger impact on the athletes heels and you can feel it in the knees,” he said.

Organisers said that the IAAF race-walking challenge is part of dozens of test events designed to highlight problems with the venues before the August 8-24 Games.

“We will report all these questions to the competition manager who is in charge of this stadium. That is what a test event is for,” said Chen Shuxu, media spokesman for the stadium.

The event took place under hazy skies but Beijing’s notorious pollution was not a problem for the Australian winner.

Despite controversy over the walking course, spectators said they liked the striking new stadium. “It make me feel proud to be Chinese,” said Zhang Yi, a 22-year-old decorator from neighbouring Hebei province, in Beijing to visit the Olympic venues. “The Bird’s Nest is just awesome.” Work still needs to be done inside and around the stadium and it is not scheduled for completion until next month when it hosts a full Olympic dress rehearsal -- the China Open athletics competition from May 22 to 25.—AFP