Olympic flame begins final leg in Beijing

Beijing, Aug 6 (PTI) The Olympic flame Wednesday embarked
on its final leg to a boisterous welcome by cheering and
rapturous flag-waving crowd two days before the eagerly
awaited and long cherished sporting mega event begins in the
Chinese capital.
The flame started from the landmark Forbidden City as
tens of thousands of residents of Beijing gathered to receive
it after it completed its longest distance of any Olympic
torch relay that took it through 137,000 kms across six
continents over 129 days.
It will pass through Beijing for three days, carried by a
total of 841 torch bearers and will cover 16.4 km on the first
day. The crowd gathered at the historic Tiananmen Square since
early Wednesday morning, holding aloft the red Chinese
national flags and the white Beijing Olympics flags.
Chinese first astronaut Yang Liwei received the torch
from Liu Qi, President of the Beijing Organising Committee at
a brief ceremony held at the small square in front of the
558-year old Forbidden City’s Meridian Gate embellished by red
carpets and flags.
"I am very happy to be here. That the torch is finally in
Beijing is a realization of a dream we have had for a hundred
years," Yang said.
Yang, who became a national hero after China’s first
manned space mission in October 2003, said, "The torch relay
has displayed the spirit of Chinese. I am very glad to be the
first torch bearer in Beijing but the honour goes to our
motherland. I feel proud of my country."
From the Forbidden City, the torch passed through
landmarks including the Tinanmen Square, the place where the
birth of the Communist China was proclaimed and one that also
saw crushing of a pro-democracy movement led by students in
1989 and the egg-shaped National Centre for the Performing
Arts and the Temple of Heaven.
Thousands of Chinese charged by nationalistic spirit
lined up to cheer the torchbearers.
Lit at the birthplace of the Olympic Games in Olympia,
Greece, on March 24, the torch has had a troubled run on its
global journey with attempts by Tibetan and human rights
activists to disrupt it in London and Paris.
The torch will reach the main venue National Stadium or
the Bird’s Nest on August eight when China is expected to
stage a spectacular show at the opening ceremony.
It arrived in Beijing after traversing through the
earthquake-devastated Sichuan, a province which was the
worst-hit by the 8 magnitude temblor of May 12 that has killed
nearly 70,000 people so far.
"The flame has come back to Beijing," Beijing Mayor Guo
Jinlong said at the ceremony. "We can expect a successful end
of the Journey of Harmony," Official Xinhua news agency quoted
him as saying.
Zhang Yimou, the famed film director and Chief Director
of the Games opening and closing ceremonies, also carried the
torch. His work for the Olympic opening ceremony is being kept
as secret as the third and last rehearsal was completed on
yesterday.
British singer Sarah Brightman and Chinese singer Liu
Huan had been chosen to present the theme song of the Beijing
Olympics at the opening, Zhang Heping, the Beijing Organising
Committee for the Olympic Games, was quoted as saying by
Xinhua.
He said most of the 10,500 athletes from 205 countries
and regions had already arrived.
The city government said that Beijing is fully prepared
with energy and water supply, transport services, air quality
control, public hygiene, health services, commodity supplies,
hotel booking, tourism services and entertainment.