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Tanzanian Caroline Mbaga, a Coca-Cola
franchise marketing manager, passes the Olympic flame to the next
torchbearer in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, yesterday. Tanzania became the
first Sub-Saharan country to host the Olympic torch relay.(Xinhua
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>> |
BEIJING, April. 14 -- They came in countless numbers,
young and old, men and women, and from near and far.
They walked, jogged, danced and ran after - some
barefooted - local torchbearers, who carried the flame on its first trip to a
sub-Saharan country.
The 5-km relay yesterday marked the debut of the
Olympic flame - a symbol of humanity's common ideals of friendship and peaceful
coexistence under the Olympic spirit - in the region widely acknowledged as the
birthplace of the human race.
The flame visited Egypt during the Athens 2004
Olympic global torch relay but it has never been to any of the 46 countries
located south of the Sahara desert, where tens of millions of the world's most
impoverished live.
That all changed yesterday, when descendants from the
home of Mitochondrial Eve, the Mother of us all, joined their distant relatives
from other continents on this most inclusive relay.
Beijing Olympic Torch Relay spokesman Qu Yingpu said:
"It was so touching to see kids take off their shoes and socks when a pool of
water submerged a section of the route... at that moment, Olympic passion and
the Olympic spirit soared."
Dar es Salaam - which means abode of peace in Arabic
- was the first city in the world to sign the 2008 Olympic torch relay pact on
the date, itinerary and local participation of the relay.
"As the African continent has never hosted an Olympic
Games, and Tanzania has never hosted an Olympic torch relay, China would like to
share with African people the passion, glory, dreams and joys of the Olympiad,"
Chinese ambassador to Tanzania Liu Xinsheng told China Daily.
Mayor Adam Kimbasa said at the opening ceremony of
the torch relay: "It is my hope that the torch relay will put the city under the
spotlight and the whole world watches us."
Tanzanian National Olympic Committee President Gulam
Rashid congratulated all torchbearers and said the short distance they ran with
the torch would be something they would remember all their lives.
John Francis, torchbearer and a marathon trainer for
the 2008 Games: "It's a great honor for me and a huge privilege. When I was
holding the torch, I felt I was standing at the center of the world... and also
felt the blessings of the Chinese people along my run."
The Tanzania-Zambia Railway - where the relay opened
- particularly drew tears from the local Chinese community.
"For the Chinese who lived here through the 60s and
the 70s of the last century, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, which was built with
aid from China, represents a great ideal and stands as a great symbol of
China-African friendship.
Following the two-hour relay, the Olympic flame left
the Tanzanian city late last night for Muscat, capital of Oman.
(Source: China Daily)