‘Asian Flying Woman’ to bear Olympic torch in Sichuan leg

Li Xuemei, the fastest woman in Asia, has been a volunteer worker setting up tents for and handing out food to the quake victims since the 8.0-magnitude tremor devastated her home province of Sichuan on May 12.

The Asian 100m sprint record holder, born in Deyang, one of the worst-hit areas, will run in the Olympic torch relay in Sichuan, which has been shortened and rescheduled for August 3-5.

“The Olympic torch has been added a special meaning after the natural disaster,” said Li, now a PE teacher in the Chengdu Electronic Science and Technology University. “I will live up to the honor of hoisting the Olympic flame by helping more people in need.”

The Sichuan leg of the Olympic torch relay has been pushed back for seven weeks in the wake of the earthquake.

“In support of earthquake relief efforts in Sichuan Province, the Sichuan leg of the Olympic Torch Relay will be shifted to August 3-5 from the originally scheduled dates of June 15-18,” the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) said in Thursday’s statement.

“The schedule and route of the relay through other stops will also be adjusted,” added the statement.

The local organizers of the Sichuan relay told Xinhua on Friday that the relay will be run with 832 torchbearers over seven cities, including Mianyang, Deyang and Chengdu which were seriously damaged by China’s worst quake in decades.

The Beijing Olympic torch resumes its domestic journey on Thursday after a three-day period of national mourning for the victims of the earthquake.

The rescheduling of the relay means that the Sichuan leg will be the last stop before Beijing, which will see the Olympic flame light the cauldron on August 8.

Source: Xinhua

Anti-terrorist team preparing for Games

An anti-terrorist special team consisting of engineers and experts will shoulder the security work for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, according to the General Staff Headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The team from the PLA’s engineering troop will be responsible for security checks, emergency rescues and anti-terrorist technology applications during the August Olympiad.

In addition, 10 engineering experts in anti-terrorist technology have been selected to provide technical support and information for the security troops during the Games.

Olympic security has been the focus of the Chinese army’s daily drills. Among them are activities preventing guns and explosives from nearing important targets, searching for and defusing explosives, rescuing victims stranded in damaged buildings and leading emergency evacuations, among others.

Source: Xinhua