Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

Torchbearer Yang Jinghui shows the torch during the launching ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, on May 7, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

   By Sportswriter Zhang Rongfeng

    GUANGZHOU, South China, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic flame extended its relay Wednesday in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, after wrapping up its Chinese mainland start in Hainan.

    The Guangzhou relay is going to cover 40 kilometers with 208 torchbearers being able to carry the torch amid cheers and jubilance from thousands of local supporters.

    The relay started in Guangzhou International Convention Center at 8:10 am local time, set to pass Hill Top Park, Yuntai Garden, Guangzhou Arts Museum, Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum, Chen Ancestral Temple, Beijing Road, Haiyin Park, Consulate District Square and reach the celebration site Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Complex.

    Folk artists performed Chinese traditional lion and dragon dancing from set-off point. A large pack of spectators witnessed the launching ceremony.

    The torchbearers are composed of athletes, entertainers, workers, charitarians, teachers, students and volunteers.

    High-profiled torchbearers include Olympic gold medalist Yang Jinghui, Swedish diver Ulrika Margarata Knape-Lindberg, former Chinese national soccer coach Shen Xiangfu, three-time fencing Olympian Dong Zhaozhi and actor Chen Kun.

    Guangzhou-born Yang Jinghui was the first torchbearer. Yang won the gold medal in the synchronized 10 meters platform diving competition together with Tian Liang in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

    "It's a great honor for me to be selected as the first runner," said 24-year-old Yang.

    "I am an athlete, a student and a volunteer, so I can represent all three kinds of people."

    Yang had carried the torch for the 2006 Doha Asian Games and 2007 Guangzhou National University Games.

    "It's quite a different feeling to hold the Olympic torch. Now I look at myself in mirror more often than before, as you know you have to care about how you look," Yang said.

    "The Olympic Games is always an ultimate dream for any athlete. For me, a retired athlete, I am proud to be part of the Beijing Games by passing the Olympic flame.

    Ulrika Margarata Knape-Lindberg, a Swedish female diver, is among the torchbearers. Knape-Lindberg, an Olympic gold and silver medalist at the age of 17, started her career in 1964.

    Knape-Lindberg won a bulk of medals including 10m gold and 3m silver in Olympic Games 1972, 10m silver in Olympic Games 1976, 10m gold and 3m silver in 1973 World Championships.

    She is the coach and team leader for 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, 2000 Olympics in Sydney and 2004 Olympics in Athens. She now works as a diving instructor in the hometown of Karlskoga.

    The relay is set to end at 6:00 pm with Chinese fencer Dong Zhaozhi being the last runner.

    Dong, born in Guangzhou in 1973, is a male Chinese foil fencer who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, in the 2000 Summer Olympics, and in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

    In 1996 he was eliminated in the first round of the Olympic foil tournament and finished ninth with the Chinese foil team in the team event.

    Four years later he won the silver medal as part of the Chinese foil team. In the 2000 Olympic foil tournament he was eliminated in the first round again.

    In 2004 he won the silver medal again as a member of the Chinese foil team. In the individual Olympic foil tournament he was eliminated in the first round.

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