Beijing to recruit record 22,000 Olympic torch bearers

Beijing - Organizers of the 2008 Olympics on Saturday unveiled plans to recruit nearly 22,000 torch bearers for next year's torch relay, almost double the number taking part in the Athens 2004 torch relay.

The Beijing organising committee (BOCOG) will start recruting 21,880 torch bearers from Saturday, including 19,400 from mainland China, Zhang Ming, the director of BOCOG's Olympic Torch Relay Centre, told reporters.

The previous highest number of torch bearers was 13,300 for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Atlanta in 1996 had almost the same number as Sydney, while Athens recruited 12,102. Montreal in 1976 used just 1,214 torch bearers, BOCOG said.

"Under the theme of 'Journey of Harmony' and slogan 'Light the Passion, Share the Dream', the torchbearer selection programme aims to involve the public participation in a most broad and extensive way." Zhang said.

"It will recruit a group of torchbearers who are most deserving and worth of carrying the Olympic Flame within their communities," she said.

Among the selction criteria, all torch bearers must "patriotic and dedicated to the Olympic Movement", have contributed to the "building of a harmonious society", and be "distinguished for remarkable feats in his or her profession or community", Zhang said.

According to Olympic tradition, the Olympic flame will be lit in ancient Olympia, Greece, on March 25, 2008.

The torch relay will travel across Greece to the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

A handover ceremony will be held in the stadium before sending the Olympic flame to Beijing on March 31, 2008.

One torch will carry the flame to dozens of cities in five continents, while a special high-altitude torch will carry the flame to the 8,844-metre summit of Mount Everest in May.

The torch relay will culminate in the lighting of the cauldron in the Olympic stadium at the August 8, 2008, opening ceremony of the Beijing Games. The last torch-bearer is one of the best-kept secrets at Olympic Games.

BOCOG listed Taiwan in the torch relay route that would include the island state under political conditions that it deemed unacceptable.

Jiang Xiaoyu, the BOCOG executive vice president, on Saturday said he still hoped Taiwan's leaders would accept an agreement that he said the island's Olympic officials had made.

Taiwan objected to China's listing of Taiwan in the route immediately before the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau, which are followed by a succession of Chinese mainland cities, saying Beijing could attempt to portray the island as part of its domestic leg.

Deutsche Presse Agentur