The main venue for the Beijing Summer Olympics opened to the media on Wednesday morning.

The National Stadium, commonly known as the "Bird's Nest," will host sporting events and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Li Xinggang is the chief Chinese designer.

"We try to give people an idea of space here, as well as an interaction between the audience and the sports field. Spectators and athletes will focus more on the sports, creating a pleasant sporting atmosphere."

The "Bird's Nest," which will host major track and field events during the competition, is becoming one of the iconic symbols of this summer's games.

Michael Kwok is the director of Ove Arup and Partners Hong Kong Limited, the firm in charge of the National Stadium project.

"I think what's special in this stadium is the combination of a very functional building with what I call a city sculpture, because you basically combine the function and 'iconicness' together, and I think that is very, very important,"

With a capacity of over 90,000 people, the stadium will be fully open to the public in May.

Later this week, two warming-up sports events, race walking and the marathon, will be held in the stadium.