BEIJING (AP) – The three-day torch relay for the Beijing Olympics, shortened considerably because of concerns about the coronavirus, started yesterday with an 80-year-old former speedskater carrying the flame.
The relay opened at the Olympic Foreign Park. Luo Zhihuan (AP; pic below), the country’s first internationally competitive speedskater, ran the first leg.
The torch will be carried through the three Olympics zones, starting with downtown Beijing before heading to Yanqing district and finally Zhangjiakou in neighbouring Hebei Province.
The Beijing Games have already been impacted on a scale similar to that experienced by Tokyo during last year’s Summer Olympics.
China said only selected spectators will be allowed to attend events, and Olympic athletes, officials, staff and journalists are required to stay within a bubble that keeps them from contact with the general public.
Beijing, with its 20 million residents, has experienced only a handful of COVID-19 cases and reported just two new ones yesterday. However, in keeping with China’s “zero tolerance” approach to the pandemic, strict rules require lockdowns and mass testing when any real or suspected case is discovered.
The truncated programme seemed to have little effect on Luo, who after receiving the torch from Vice Premier Han Zheng said it was the realisation of decades-long aspiration.
“I’ve never participated in the Winter Olympics, so I had hoped our country could host the Winter Olympics and I had the dream for nearly 60 years,” said Luo, wearing a red and white jacket marked with number one. “Today my dream has come true… How happy I am!”
The opening of the Beijing Games comes only days after the start of the Lunar New Year holiday, China’s biggest annual celebration when millions traditionally travel to their hometowns for family reunions.
For the second straight year, the government has advised those living away from home to stay put, and train and plane travel has been curtailed.
Participants in the torch relay have undergone health screenings and have been carefully monitored, starting from two weeks before the event.
Others among the 135 torchbearers heading out yesterday were Jing Haipeng, captain of the Chinese Astronaut Corps, Ye Peijian, a 77-year-old consultant to China’s lunar exploration programme, former NBA player Yao Ming, and Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, who will direct tomorrow’s opening ceremony at the Bird’s Nest.
