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Sunday, May 04, 2008
China welcomes Olympic torch; officials predict no protest during relay (10:30 a.m.)
SANYA, China -- The mainland China leg of the Olympic torch relay started in the southern island of Hainan on Sunday in what is expected to be a peaceful three-month journey to Beijing.
State television showed the beginning of the torch run in the seaside resort of Sanya. It started what organizers and ordinary Chinese have promised would be a trouble-free national tour.
The torch relay will wind through every province and region of China before arriving in Beijing several days before the start of the Olympics on August 8. The protests and last-minute route changes that haunted the torch along its international relay route were expected to be over.
The start of the route was lined with crowds waving the Chinese flag.
The first torch carrier was Yang Yang, a gold medalist in short-track speedskating at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Actor Jackie Chan and basketball star Yi Jianlian were also to be among the 208 people carrying the torch Sunday along palm tree-lined roads looking out over the South China Sea.
Four-time Olympic table tennis gold medal winner Deng Yaping, a possible candidate to be the final torch runner on Aug. 8, said carrying the torch was an honor.
"I think it is a matter of honor. And you don't have to run fast. You can run fast, you can run slowly, or you can walk. What matters is you are passing down the Olympic spirit," said Deng, who is also on the Olympic organizing committee.
Organizers and police said security measures were being taken but refused to give details.
The international Olympic torch relay was dogged by protests in London, Paris and other cities where demonstrators voiced their disapproval at Beijing's clampdown on a broad uprising among Tibetans against Chinese rule.
But China's government will now have a chance to quiet some of that controversy as the torch begins its journey across the mainland.
The Macau leg of the relay went smoothly Saturday as runners seamlessly carried the torch past the once seedy territory's glitzy Las Vegas-style casinos.
After Hainan island, the torch moves to Guangdong province, the southern province where millions of migrant workers man what has become the world's factory floor, making everything from Honda cars to Nike sneakers. (AP) |
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