The Olympic flame arrived in Beijing early Tuesday for the fifth
leg of a six-week global torch relay leading up to the Athens Games
in August.
A small lantern carrying the flame arrived at the Beijing
Capital International Airport at 6:23 AM aboard a Greek chartered
jumbo jet painted in the Olympic colors and dubbed Zeus. The flame
will spend two days in the host city of the 2008 Games.
Following a brief hand-off ceremony, the eternal flame was
carried to the Great Wall. The Athens Olympic Organizing Committee
considers the Great Wall to be of great symbolic importance in the
relay.
"It is a reason why the flame is staying in Beijing for two
days," said Kristin Fabos, a spokeswoman from the Athens Olympic
organizing committee.
National Basketball Association All-Star Yao Ming is scheduled
to join in the Beijing leg of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games torch
relay. The run will take place on Wednesday, starting at Tian'anmen
Square and finishing at the Summer Palace.
The Houston Rockets center will likely be the last of the 148
torchbearers to run in the 55-kilometer relay. Yu Zaiqing, an
International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and vice president of
the Chinese Olympic Committee, will be the first bearer.
Joining them will be people from all walks of life, including
many celebrities. Other famous names from the world of sports
include table tennis legend Deng Yaping; women's breaststroke
triple world titleholder Luo Xuejuan; and Olympic and world diving
champion Tian Liang.
Beijing Olympic organizers said the torch will be carried around
Beijing by cyclists as well as by runners.
"There are still millions of people in Beijing whose bicycles
are their main form of transportation, so I think it will be a fun
to use bikes in the relay," said Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of
the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
(
BOCOG).
Jiang said the Athens torch relay will provide useful
information for BOCOG to employ in organizing the relay for the
2008 Olympic Games.
(Xinhua and China Daily June 8, 2004)