Winter Olympics: torch relay begins 3-day trek past iconic Beijing landmarks
- Luo Zhihuan, China’s first winter sport world champion, was the first to carry the torch on its three-day trek through Beijing
- The Olympic flame will travel past the Great Wall and the Summer Palace, and for the first time, will be exchanged by two robots
During a short ceremony, Vice-Premier Han Zheng lit a spiral-shaped torch and passed it to Luo Zhihuan, the first torch-bearer and a 80-year-old former speed skater who won China’s first winter sport world championship title in 1963.
With a route travelling through three competition zones in as many days, the torch relay is the shortest since 1952 – compared to the 129 days for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, when 21,800 torch-bearers carried the flame to 21 countries and even to the top of Mount Everest.
As with the rest of the Winter Olympics to open on Friday, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced organisers to settle for a less extravagant arrangement. Yet, that has not stopped China from celebrating national pride and achievement in sports and the sciences.
Within hours of Luo’s turn with the torch, state media published pre-recorded interviews with him that underscored how far Chinese athletes had come from his generation and drew contrasts between today’s hi-tech speed skating suits and the jumpers of bygone days.