Special report:   2008 Olympic Games    

    By Sportswriters Zhang Rongfeng, Li Zheng

    SHENYANG, Northeast China, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Nearly a dozen of Olympic or world champions carried the Olympic torch on Thursday's relay in Shenyang, capital of China's sports powerhouse Liaoning.

    Liu Hongtu, whose father Liu Changchun was China's first Olympian, kicked off the torch relay as the first runner in the World Garden Exposition at 8:08 a.m. local time.

    "I am fulfilling my father's dream of Olympics today," said Liu.     

    Liu Changchun took part in the Los Angeles Olympic games in 1932 as the only Chinese athlete. He entered the 100- and 200-meter races but failed to qualify for the finals. Four years later, he competed again with some other Chinese athletes, but scored no medals either.

    "Over 76 years from the Los Angeles Olympic Games at which my father represented China alone, to the Beijing Olympic Games, great changes have happened to China," said junior Liu.

    Li Yuwei, the coach of moving target shooting in Liaoning, ran in the fifth place. Li was the gold medalist in the 44th world shooting championships.

    Then in the sixth place was Zhuang Xiaoyan, the 1992 Barcelona Olympic judo champion. She was also a titlist in 1991 world championships.

    "I am so exciting today. It seems I have won another Olympic champion at the moment," said Zhuang.

    "Being able to carry the Olympic torch just likes winning the Olympic gold medal. The trouble for me now is I am pondering how to handle the torch back home as I have two daughters but only one torch," Zhuang said in joking.

    Zhuang predicted that the Chinese team is capable of winning two judo golds in Beijing.

    Han Xiaopeng, Turin Winter Olympic Games titlist, was another top athlete in the relay.

    Han Xiaopeng, 26, born in Peixian, Xuzhou, in Jiangsu Province is a freestyle skier who competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and won gold in the men's aerials event.

    Han is the first Chinese man to ever win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

    "I do hope I can win another gold medal in the Vancouver Winter Olympics," said Han.

    "I hope I am passing the message when I pass the torch that more people should care about the Winter Games and ice and snow sports."

    Han is the first Chinese man to ever win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

    Liu Yongfu, who trained four judo Olympic champions for China, ran in the ninth place.

    Two renowned basketball coaches were also among the torchbearers. They are Guo Shiqiang and Jiang Xingquan.

    Guo is a player in the national team and now the coach in the Liaoning team, who were the runners-up in the CBA last season.

    Jiang had been a former national basketball coach between 1991 and 2003.

    The Chinese national basketball team is generally recognized as the strongest team in Asia, and has won more FIBA Asian Championships than any other nation.

    The Olympic torch finished its tour in Shenyang at 10:18 a.m. covering 14.4 kilometers with 241 torchbearers in the relay.

    The Olympic torch relay in Shenyang is the first leg of the sacred Olympic flame's tour in northeast China's Liaoning province.

    The torch will then leave for Anshan, a city famous for iron and steel industry, for its second leg in Liaoning.

    Shenyang is a sub-provincial city and capital of Liaoning province in northeast China.

    Along with its nearby cities, Shenyang is an important industrial center in China, and the transportation and commercial center of China's northeastern region.