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The 2008 Olympic Torch Relay will run until August 8, 2008, prior to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Plans for the relay were announced on April 26, 2007, in Beijing, China. The relay, with the theme Journey of Harmony, will last 130 days and carry the torch 137,000 km. (85,100 mi.) — the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay. After being lit in Olympia, Greece, the torch traveled to the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, and then to Beijing, arriving on March 31. From Beijing, the torch is following a route passing through six continents. The torch will visit cities on the Silk Road, symbolizing ancient links between China and the rest of the world. The relay will also include an attempt to carry the flame to the top of Mount Everest (Mt. Qomolangma).

The 2008 torch relay has been controversial, being marked on multiple occasions by protests regarding China's human rights record, and in particular the ongoing unrest in Tibet. The path of the torch has been changed on several occasions, with the torch being extinguished during the Paris leg.

International route

Greece

On March 24, 2008, the Olympic Flame was ignited at Olympia, Greece, site of the Ancient Olympics. The actress Maria Nafpliotou, in the role of a High Priestess, ignited the torch of the first torchbearer, a silver medalist of the 2004 Summer Olympics in taekwondo Alexandros Nikolaidis from Greece, who handed the flame over to the second torchbearer, Olympic champion in women's breaststroke Luo Xuejuan from China.

China

In China, the torch was welcomed by Chinese legal chief Zhou Yongkang and State Councilor Liu Yandong. It was subsequently passed onto Hu Jintao, the President, and then onto Liu Xiang, world champion Olympian in 110 m hurdles.

Kazakhstan

The first torchbearer in Almaty, where the Olympic torch arrived for the first time ever on April 2, was the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev. The route ran 20 km from Medeo stadium to Astana Square. Among other 79 torchbearers were Olympic champions Bakhtiyar Artayev, Yermakhan Ibraimov (boxing), Yuriy Melnichenko, Zaksylik Ushkempirov (wrestling), Anatoly Khrapaty (weightlifting); the first Olympic champion for independent Kazakhstan Vladimir Smirnov (cross-country skiing) skied his lap on a special artificial snow track; famous Kazakh singer Roza Rymbaeva ran her lap singing a song about Kazakhstan.

Turkey

The torch relay leg in Istanbul, held on April 3, started on Sultanahmet Square and finished in Taksim Square. On the 20 km long route the Olympic flame was carried by 80 torchbearers, the first being a figure skater Tuğba Karademir and the last — the Olympic champion in weightlifting Taner Sağır.

Russia

On April 5 the Olympic torch arrived at Saint Petersburg, Russia. The length of the torch relay route in the city was 20 km, with the start at the Victory Square and finish at the Palace Square. Among the 80 torchbearers were Olympic champions Lyubov Yegorova (cross-country skiing), Viktor Zhdanovich (fencing), Vladimir Salnikov, Alexander Popov, Sergey Kopliakov, Andrey Krylov (swimming), Alexander Dityatin (artistic gymnastics), Tatyana Kazankina (athletics), Anatoly Alyabyev (biathlon), Evgeni Plushenko, Tatiana Totmianina, Maxim Marinin, Anton Sikharulidze, Alexei Urmanov, Oksana Kazakova, Artur Dmitriev, Oleg Vasiliev (figure skating), Svetlana Zhurova (speed skating), and others; figure skating coach Tamara Moskvina; mixed martial artist Fedor Emelianenko; polar explorers Robert Swan, Artur Chilingarov; cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova; actress Alisa Freindlich and other prominent people.

United Kingdom

See below.

France

The torch relay leg in Paris, held on April 7, began on the first level of the Eiffel Tower and finished at the Stade Charléty. French athlete Stéphane Diagana was the first torchbearer. Other torchbearers included David Douillet and Marie-José Pérec.

The relay was initially supposed to cover 28km, but it was shortened at the demand of Chinese officials following widespread protests by pro-Tibet and human rights activists, who repeatedly attempted to disrupt, hinder or halt the procession. A scheduled ceremony at the town hall was cancelled at the request of the Chinese authorities, and, also at the request of Chinese authorities, the torch finished the relay by bus instead of being carried by athletes.

United States

Schedule

The announced route will carry the torch through the following locations, from March 2008 to May 2008, before the final stages in mainland China:

Date	City	Country
March 25	Olympia	Greece
March 30	Athens
March 31	Beijing	China
April 2	Almaty	Template:KZK
April 3	Istanbul	Turkey
April 5	St.Petersburg	Russia
April 6	London	United Kingdom
April 7	Paris	France
April 9	San Francisco	United States
April 11	Buenos Aires	Argentina
April 13	Dar es Salaam	Tanzania
April 14	Muscat	Oman
April 16	Islamabad	Pakistan
April 17	New Delhi	India
April 19	Bangkok	Thailand
April 21	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia
April 22	Jakarta	Indonesia
April 24	Canberra	Australia
April 26	Nagano	Japan
April 27	Seoul	South Korea
April 28	Pyongyang	North Korea
April 29	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam
May 2	Hong Kong	China
May 3	Macau

The planned route originally included a stop in Taipei between Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong, but there was scuffling in Beijing and Taipei over language used to describe whether it was an international or a domestic part of the route. While the Olympic committees of mainland China and Taiwan reached initial consensus on the approach, the government of the Republic of China in Taiwan intervened, stating that this placement could be interpreted as placing Taiwan on the same level as Hong Kong and Macau, an implication it objected to. The Beijing Organizing Committee attempted to continue negotiation, but further disputes arose over the placement and usage of the flag or the anthem of the Republic of China along the 24 km torch route in Taiwan. As of 2007-09-21, after the midnight deadline for concluding the negotiations on September 20, Taiwan and Mainland China were unable to come to terms with the issue of the Torch Relay. In the end, both sides of the Taiwan Strait decided to eliminate the Taipei leg.

Mainland China route

After returning to mainland China, the relay will travel through the following provinces and cities, from May 2008 to August 2008:

1. Hainan Province (Sanya, Wuzhishan, Wanning, Haikou)
2. Guangdong Province (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Huizhou, Shantou)
3. Fujian Province (Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen, Longyan)
4. Jiangxi Province (Ruijin, Jinggangshan, Nanchang)
5. Zhejiang Province (Wenzhou Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Jiaxing)
6. Shanghai
7. Jiangsu Province (Suzhou, Nantong, Taizhou, Yangzhou, Nanjing)
8. Anhui Province (Hefei, Huainan, Wuhu, Jixi, Huangshan)
9. Hubei Province (Wuhan, Yichang, Jingzhou)
10. Hunan Province (Yueyang, Changsha, Shaoshan)
11. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guilin, Nanning, Baise)
12. Yunnan Province (Kunming, Lijiang, Xamgyi'nyilha)
13. Guizhou Province (Guiyang, Kaili, Zunyi)
14. Chongqing
15. Sichuan Province (Guang'an, Mianyang, Guanghan, Leshan, Zigong, Yibin, Chengdu)
16. Tibet Autonomous Region (Shannan Diqu, Lhasa)
17. Qinghai Province (Golmud, Qinghai Hu, Xining)
18. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Ürümqi, Kashi, Shihezi, Changji)
19. Gansu Province (Dunhuang, Jiayuguan, Jiuquan, Tianshui, Lanzhou)
20. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Zhongwei, Wuzhong, Yinchuan)
21. Shaanxi Province (Yan'an, Yangling, Xianyang, Xi'an)
22. Shanxi Province (Yuncheng, Pingyao, Taiyuan, Datong)
23. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Hohhot, Ordos, Baotou, Chifeng)
24. Heilongjiang Province (Qiqihar, Daqing, Harbin)
25. Jilin Province (Songyuan, Changchun, Jilin, Yanji)
26. Liaoning Province (Shenyang, Benxi, Liaoyang, Anshan, Dalian)
27. Shandong Province (Yantai, Weihai, Qingdao, Rizhao, Linyi, Qufu, Tai'an, Jinan)
28. Henan Province (Shangqiu, Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Anyang)
29. Hebei Province (Shijiazhuang, Qinhuangdao, Tangshan)
30. Tianjin
31. Beijing

The Torch

The Olympic Torch is based on traditional scrolls and uses a traditional Chinese design known as "Lucky Cloud". The torch is designed to remain lit in 65 kilometer-an-hour winds, and in rain of up to 50 millimeters-an-hour. It is designed by a team from Lenovo Group.

The Torch is designed in reference to the traditional Chinese concept of the 5 elements that make up the entire universe.

Flame attendants

The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee sent out a team of 30 flame attendants selected from the People's Armed Police to escort the flame throughout its journey. Their main job is to keep the Olympic flame alight by any means throughout the journey (although they extinguished the torch, but not the flame, on several occasions in Paris) and to assist in transferring the flame between the torches, the lanterns and the cauldrons. They wear matching blue tracksuits and will accompany the Torch every step of the way. Two additional teams of 40 attendants each will accompany the flame on its Mainland China route.

Controversies

• On April 7, the federal government of Australia has ruled out any Chinese involvement in security operations when the Olympic torch arrives in Australia.
• Sebastian Coe, the head of 2012 London Summer Olympics said about them, "They are horrible. They did not speak English ... I think they were thugs." According to the China News Service, however, the attendants have received advanced training in five foreign languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese) and the etiquette of various countries before their mission.
• During the torch's journey through Paris, Chinese attendants imposed modifications on the torch's route, and the shortening or cancelling of ceremonies. They also extinguished the torch on several occasions, prompting criticism from Paris' mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, who accused them of "disrupting" the passing of the torch from athlete David Douillet to another athlete.

Protests

Inception

Following the recent unrest in Tibet, three sympathisers of the Tibetan independence movement breached security and attempted to disrupt a speech by Liu Qi, the head of Beijing's Olympic organising committee during the torch lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece. The People's Republic of China called this a "disgraceful" attempt to sabotage the Olympics. On 30 March, 2008 in Athens, during ceremonies marking the handing over of the torch from Greek officials to organizers of the Beijing games, demonstrators shouted 'Free Tibet' and unfurled banners; some 10 of the 15 protesters were taken into police detention. After the hand-off, protests continued internationally, with particularly violent uprisings in Nepal.

London

Of the 80 torch-bearers in London, Sir Steve Redgrave, who started the relay, mentioned to the media that he had received e-mailed pleas to boycott the event and "can see why they would like to make an issue" of it. Francesca Martinez and Richard Vaughan refused to carry the torch, while Konnie Huq decided to carry it and also speak out against China. The pro-Tibetan MP Norman Baker asked all bearers to reconsider. Amid pressure from both directions, Prime Minister Gordon Brown welcomed the torch outside 10 Downing Street without holding or touching it.

The London relay saw the torch surrounded by what the BBC described as "a mobile protective ring." Protests began as soon as Redgrave started the event, leading to at least thirty-five arrests. In Ladbroke Grove a demonstrator attempted to snatch the torch from Konnie Huq in a momentary struggle, and in a separate incident, a fire extinguisher was set off near the torch. The Chinese ambassador carried the torch through Chinatown after an unpublicized change to the route amid security concerns. For one long stretch along the Mile End Road where the streets narrow the torch was placed on a bus and carried for a long distance amid security concerns. In an effort to counter the pro-Tibet protesters and show their support for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, more than 2,000 Chinese also gathered on the torch route and demonstrated with signs, banners and Chinese flags. A large number of supporters were concentrated in Trafalgar Square, displaying the Olympic slogan "One World, One Dream". Detractors accused these people of belonging to groups organised by the Chinese embassy.

Many negative opinions were expressed about the blue-suited flame 'attendants' seen forming a central line of defence around the torch. Konnie Huq herself expressed discomfort with the way they had behaved, describing them as being very "full-on" and of attempting to order both the torch bearers and the police about. Some have even suggested that the 'attendants' were Chinese government security men.

Paris

Paris city officials had announced plans to greet the Olympic flame with peaceful protest when the torch was to reach the French capital. The city government attached a banner reading "Paris defends human rights throughout the world" to City Hall, Paris, in an attempt to promote values "of all humanity and of human rights." Members from Reporters Without Borders turned out in large numbers to protest. An estimated 3,000 French police protected the Olympic torch relay as it departed from the Eiffel Tower and crisscrossed Paris amid threat of protests. One protestor attempted to kick Chinese Paralympic fencer Jing Jin, who was carrying the torch, but was stopped just in time by the escorting police. Widespread violent pro-Tibet protests, including an attempt by more than one demonstrator to extinguish the flame with water or fire extinguishers, prompted relay authorities to put out the flame five times (according to the police authorities in Paris) and load the torch onto a bus, at the demand of Chinese officials. Backup flames are with the relay at all times to relight the torch. Again, as happened in London torch relay, large numbers of Chinese and pro-Olympic supporters showed with Chinese flags and banners, although it has been suggested that their presence was, in some cases, summoned and organised by the Chinese embassy, this countered by the fact that many of the protestors were organized and flew specially to Paris to disrupt the relay. However, Chinese officials cancelled the torch relay ceremony amidst disruptions, including a Tibetan flag flown from a window in the City Hall by Green Party officials. "The Chinese officials decided they would not stop here because they were upset by Parisian citizens expressing their support for human rights," Paris' mayor Bertrand Delanoë told the press.

Reporters Without Borders organised several symbolic protests, including scaling the Eiffel Tower in a daring climb to hang a protest banner from it, and hanging an identical banner from the Notre Dame cathedral.

French members of Parliament and other French politicians also organised a protest. All political parties in Parliament -UMP, Socialists, New Centre, Communists, Democratic Movement (centre) and Greens- jointly requested a pause in the National Assembly's session, which was granted, so that MPs could step outside and unfurl a banner which read "Respect for Human Rights in China". The coach containing the torch drove past the National Assembly and the assembled protesting MPs, who shouted "Freedom for Tibet!" several times as it passed.

San Francisco

On April 1, 2008, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a resolution addressing human rights concerns when the Beijing Olympic torch arrives in San Francisco on 9 April. The resolution would welcome the torch with "alarm and protest at the failure of China to meet its past solemn promises to the international community, including the citizens of San Francisco, to cease the egregious and ongoing human rights abuses in China and occupied Tibet." On April 8, numerous protests are planned including one at the city's United Nations Plaza led by actor Richard Gere and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Some advocates for Tibet, Darfur, and the religious sect Falun Gong, plan to protest the April 9 arrival of the torch in San Francisco. China has already requested the torch route in San Francisco be shortened. On April 7, 2008, two days prior to the actual torch relay, three activists carrying Tibetan flags scaled the suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge to unfurl two banners, one saying "One World, One Dream. Free Tibet", and the other, "Free Tibet '08". Among them was San Francisco resident Laurel Sutherlin, who spoke to the local TV station KPIX-CBS5 live from a cellphone, urging the International Olympic Committee to ask China not to allow the torch to go through Tibet. "Sutherlin said he was worried that the torch's planned route through Tibet would lead to more arrests and Chinese officials would use force to stifle dissent." The three activists and five supporters face charges related to trespassing, conspiracy and causing a public nuisance.

New Delhi

Indian national football captain, Baichung Bhutia refused to take part in the Indian leg of the torch relay. This came in wake of the storming of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi by Tibetan protesters. Wary of further protests, the Indian authorities have decided to shorten the route of the relay in New Delhi. Indian Bollywood film star Aamir Khan states on his personal blog that the "Olympic Games do not belong to China" and confirms taking part in the torch relay "with a prayer in heart for the people of Tibet, and for all people across the world who are victims of human rights violations".

Canberra

Following the events in Olympia, there were reports that China requested permission to deploy People's Liberation Army personnel along the relay route to protect the flame. Australian authorities stated that such a request, if it were to be made, would be refused. Chinese officials labeled it a rumor.

References

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6. Template:Tr icon Meşaleyi Karademir taşıdı
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10. Template:Ru icon Olympic Torch route in St. Petersburg with all torchbearers and lap definitions (.doc file)
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External links

• Official site of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games
• Official site of the Beijing 2008 Torch relay
• Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Torch Relay coverage by Community-online.com
• Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay Google Map
• Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay in London

• Current events from April 2008
• 2008 Summer Olympics
• 2008 in China