For the first time in Olympic history, a Chinese person will run the second leg of the torch relay in ancient Olympia, Greece, where the flame will be lit.

George Aidonis, the city’s mayor, said, ‘There will be a few changes to the torch relay in Olympia this year, as a Chinese person will run the second leg, carrying the torch from the gate of the ruins to the municipal government hall.’

The Olympic flame for the Beijing Games will be lit in front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera at 12 noon on March 24.

The lighting ceremony of the torch ceremony will start with the ‘High Priestess’, played by Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou. She will then pass the torch to the first runner, a Greek athlete, who will carry it to the temple gateway and pass it over to the Chinese runner.

George Aidonis said, ‘This will be the first time a torchbearer from the Games’ host country will take the flame from a Greek athlete and run the second leg. The Chinese runner will be decided by the Chinese embassy in Greece and the Beijing Olympic organizing committee.’

The mayor said everything is in place, despite the fact the city is still trying to recover from a forest fire last year.

The mayor has participated in every lighting ceremony since 1978, and said he expects this year’s to be something special.

‘It’s hard to describe the feeling you get when the Olympic flame is lit. It is a deeply heartwarming experience. And seeing the flame lit for China — a country that has a long history and rich culture, just like Greece — will make the event even more special. The Olympic spirit will spread rapidly around the world.’
Source: China Daily

It will start at the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, seen here, built around 330BC and gloriously reconstructed for the first modern Games in 1896, thanks to a wealthy Athenian benefactor. On 30 March, the 2,300-year-old stadium will witness the passing of the flaming Olympic baton from the Greeks to the Chinese.

The flame will then take a 137,000km journey through every continent except Antarctica over a period of four months.

The torch is scheduled to pass through London on 6 April, San Francisco (9 April), Buenos Aires (11 April) and Canberra (24 April), before reaching Hong Kong on 2 May at the start of a tour of China and Tibet. The highlight — literally — will be an attempt to take the flame to the summit of Mount Everest: a second torch will be left with a group of mountaineers who are planning an ascent in May.

Is Beijing ready for the games?

In contrast to Athens 2004, whose Olympic building program only just met the deadline, the Chinese capital is well ahead of schedule. In fact, some of the 15 new venues were completed more than a year ago, prompting the IOC President Jacques Rogge to urge the organising committee to slow the work down.

The main stadium is not yet quite finished. It will be and the opening ceremony will start at 08:08:08pm on 08-08-08. In Chinese numerology you cannt get much luckier than that.

The airport has a new, third terminal to cope with the Olympic traffic, and Beijing’s metro is being almost trebled in size, with seven new lines and 90 new stations.

For your information the headquarters of the Olympic movement is in a city that has never staged the Games, and is never likely to.

Baron de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in Paris in 1894, but it moved to Lausanne after the First World War because of Switzerland’s neutrality. Which will almost certainly never see an Olympic Games. It matters not.

Beijing will do all the shining and glory the Olympics will ever need. Read the long, exhaustive and superbly researched story by clicking on Source.
Source: The Independent

China has sought to smooth over scuttled plans to include Taiwan in the torch relay for next year’s Beijing Olympics. It said residents of the island were welcome to join in cultural and other exchanges surrounding the games.

Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office and seen here, said, ‘We still strongly welcome Taiwan compatriots to actively participate in Olympic Games-related activities such as sports culture exchanges, Olympic training and competition activities, Olympics-related volunteer activities and so on.’

Taiwan, which has never been included in an Olympic torch relay, had objected to its placement on the route ahead of Hong Kong, saying that it would make it appear to be part of Chinese territory.

Taipei also accused Beijing of introducing last-minute conditions on the display of Taiwanese flags and national symbols along the route.

Beijing has expressed its regrets at this development but has insisted that all Taiwanese citizens will be very welcome.
Source: International Herald Tribune

Jiang Xiaoyu, BOCOG executive vice-president and seen here, said the torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will not pass through Taipei. He said, ‘ the Taiwan authorities unilaterally ended the talks and closed the door for discussion. On Thursday, Tsai Chen-wei, president of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, said in a letter to BOCOG that the committee will not further discuss the issue of the Olympic torch relay passing through Taipei.’

‘On the same night, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially told BOCOG the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch will have to go ahead without a stopover in Taiwan.’

The relay route will be adjusted and it is possible the torch will go from Ho Chi Minh City direct to Hong Kong.

But Jiang Xiaoyu said Beijing still welcomes the Chinese Taipei sports delegation to participate in the Games.

He said, ‘We will provide first-class facilities and services for them, just as we will for all the delegations.’
Source: China Daily

Olympic organizers are starting to recruit torch bearers for the longest relay route in Olympic history. There will be 21,880 torch bearers for the 137,000 km torch relay route.

Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the official Olympic body, BOCOG, said, ‘There are two ways of becoming a torch bearer. The first one is through recommendations by various organizations and institutions. Another way is an open process in which public recommendations are accepted.’

5,000 escort runners will be selected on the Chinese mainland exclusively for the relay.

Jiang Xiaoyu said, ‘In a few days, the public will know how to apply as respective organizations and institutions will announce their own application process. But none of them are allowed to add additional requirements to the existing ones.’

There are no limits on gender, career, nationality or health conditions but Jiang Xiaoyu said the applicants should be older than 14.

Foreigners can account for at most 5% of torch bearers on the Chinese mainland which will have 19,400 in total. People with a disability are welcomed to take part.

The deadline for submitting applications is October 31 before the BOCOG make the final confirmation before December 30 this year.

The Beijing Olympics holy flame will be lit in March next year in Greece before starting its 130-day journey.
Source: Shanghai Daily