Shanghai-born Zhuang Yong, a gold medalist from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, will be the first torchbearer in the 200-kilometer leg of the Beijing Games relay in Shanghai tomorrow, organizers said today.
Zhu Jianhua, a retired high jumper and Asian Games record holder, will receive the torch at the end of the relay in Shanghai.
The Olympic torch is now in Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province and will arrive in Shanghai tomorrow after the relay was suspended for three days to mourn to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake.
Shanghai will hold a ceremony tomorrow morning at the north square of Shanghai Museum before the relay begins. The first day of the relay will end at Binjiang Forest Park in Pudong and cover 62.84 kilometers.
On Saturday, the relay will start at Shanghai Stadium and end in Jiading District, home of Shanghai Circuit and the Chinese Grand Prix F1 race. The relay will cover 136.55 kilometers on the second day.
More than 400 torchbearers will participate. The list of torchbearers includes Doctor Sun Yuli, Major General Chen Fei and Bu Zhiyong, a senior IT engineer. All three helped rescue quake victims. Organizers have also chosen 44 expats as torchbearers.
Parties, carnivals and fireworks were canceled because of the earthquake.
People will be invited to donate money for quake victims at the opening and closing ceremonies of the relay on both days.
Originally, the relay was scheduled to pass through Sichuan from June 15th to 18th, but it has since been moved back to August 3 to 5, the last stop before the torch goes to Beijing.
(Shanghai Daily May 22, 2008)