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2008 Olympics>Latest News
UPDATED: August-9-2008  
Li Ning Lights the Cauldron
 
 

Former Chinese gymnastics champion Li Ning is about to light the cauldron of the Beijing Olympic Games during the opening ceremony, on August 8, 2008 (Xinhua)

The cauldron of the Beijing Olympic Games was lit by former gymnastics star Li Ning in the National Stadium in Beijing on Friday night.

The triple gold medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, who is now a successful entrepreneur, took a stunt-like and painstaking journey around the top of the stadium, before setting ablaze the giant cauldron.

Lifted with computer-controlled wires around his waist, the 45-year-old Li imitated running along the 500-meter-long, 14-meter-wide brim of the bowl-shaped, roofless top of the Bird's Nest, which is also a gigantic screen.

Video of the Olympic torch's global relay, covering a record distance of some 137,000 kilometers in 129 days, was shown on the screen, closely following Li's running paces as if a painting scroll was being unfolded.

The worldwide relay of the Beijing Olympic torch, designed to be a "journey of harmony," endured many unexpected hardships, particularly violent protests by "Tibet independence" supporters and even attempts to seize and extinguish it. Its domestic relay was also halted for three days as the nation mourned the quake victims in May, and the route rescheduled to avoid the impacts on the relief work in the quake-stricken Sichuan Province.

The cauldron of the Beijing Olympic Games was lit by former gymnastics star Li Ning in the National Stadium

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2008)


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