News / Politics
Olympic Flame Begins Journey from Greece to Beijing
Protesters Gather to Protest Chinese Treatment of Tibet
The flame started on its 85,000-mile journey from Olympia and will travel across five continents, ending at the Beijing stadium on Aug 8. A total 645 torchbearers will carry the flame over 950 miles through Greece, taking about one week to travel to Athens. It will make a stop at the Acropolis before being handed over to Chinese officials at the ancient stadium where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896. It will then make a 19-week journey across the globe where it will finally light the stadium torch in Beijing at the opening ceremonies on August 8, 2008.
The ceremony began when high priestess Maria Nafpliotou handed the torch to Alexandros Nikolaidis, winner of a silver medal in taekwondo at the 2004 Athens Games. He was to hand the flame to Luo Xuejuan, winner of China’s only swimming gold medal in Athens.
The event was disrupted briefly by three protesters from the Paris-based freedom group Reporters Without Borders. China state TV disrupted the broadcast and cut to a prerecorded scene, preventing Chinese viewers from seeing the protest. TV commentators on Chinese TV never mentioned what took place.
Greek television also made no mention of the incident.
Find more details of the pre-Olympic events on http://www.destinationvillas.com/blog/?p=78.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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