Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

Torchbearer Wang Yifu (R), head coach of the Chinese national shooting team and the country's most experienced Olympian with six successive appearances from 1984 to 2004, receives the torch from Zhang Jiehui, secretary of the Anshan municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) during the launching ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in Anshan, city of northeast China's Liaoning Province, on July 18, 2008. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)  Photo Gallery>>>

    ANSHAN, Northeast China, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic torch relay kicked off in Anshan, northeast China, at 8:00 am local time on Friday.

    Wang Yifu, head coach of the Chinese national shooting team and the country's most experienced Olympian with six successive appearances from 1984 to 2004, carried the torch as the first runner.

    A total of 175 torchbearers will participate in the relay covering 7.8 kilometers.