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Olympic torch arrives in Beijing
By Yu Yilei (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-06-08 00:07

All-star NBA basketball star Yao Ming is expected to join and finish the Beijing leg of 2004 Athens Olympic Games torch relay which starts Wednesday in the Chinese capital, Beijing Olympic organizers announced Monday.

The Houston Rockets centre will be the last of the 148 torch bearers to run in the more-than 55 kilometre Beijing section. Yet the organizers said they still need to speak to several related organizations before the Chinese sports hero can participate in the first global Olympic torch relay.

Torch carriers and defenders for the Athens Olympics display the torch and Chinese national flag on the Great Wall at Juyongguan Pass in suburban Beijing June 7, 2004. Some 40 of them who are taking part in Tuesday's torch relay in Beijing climbed up the Great Wall Monday. [newsphoto]

Ya Zaiqing, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and a top Chinese sports official who serves as the vice-president of Chinese Olympic Committee, will be the first bearer.

The 148-member list contains people from all walks of life, including many sporting and entertainment celebrities. Besides Yao, Chinese table tennis legend Deng Yaping; Luo Xuejuan, triple women's breaststroke world title holder; Yang Ling, two-time Olympic shooting champion; and Tian Liang, the Olympic and world diving champion, are other noted sporting names.

Sang Lan, the former Chinese gymnast who was paralyzed after a fall from the vault warm-up during the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, will be a representative of disable people in the relay.

"It is a kind of thrill to join in such an important moment,'' said Sang who is a TV hostess now. "I am very excited.''

The eternal flame will arrive in Beijing early morning today. It will be carried to the Great Wall after a brief hand-off ceremony in the Capital airport. The relay takes off the next day, starting from the Tian'anmen Square and ending at the Summer Palace.

A staff displays Chinese national flag when the plane Zeus carrying the Olympic flame arrived in Beijing June 8, 2004. The torch relay will be held in Beijing on Wednesday. [Xinhua] Olympic Ambassador Spiros Lambridis holds the Olympic flame lantern on arrival in Beijing from Seoul June 8, 2004. The Olympic flame arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday as part of its 35-day world tour, visiting 34 cities in 27 countries before arriving for the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games on August 13. The Beijing torch relay will be held on Wednesday. [Reuters] Olympic Ambassador Spiros Lambridis carrying the Olympic flame gets off the plane Zeus June 8, 2004. [Xinhua] Liu Jingmin (second from left), vice mayor of Beijing and the executive vice-chairman of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, and Greek officials raise the the Olympic flame lantern when the flame arrived in Beijing June 8, 2004. [Xinhua]  Torch relay in Beijing begins from Tian'anmen Square and ends at the Summer Palace, the route is about 55km long. [Xinhuanet.com] The Olympic flame will travel to 34 cities in 27 countries before arriving for the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games on August 13. [beijing-2008.org]

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