Liu Xiang Lights Fire of Beijing Olympics?
Liu Xiang
In just a couple of days, one of 1.3 billion people will light the fire to ignite the Beijing Olympic Games. Liu Xiang, the world record holder in the 110 meters hurdle and China’s first track and field gold medalist is high on the list of candidates. Problem is, Liu Xiang is still an active athlete and under extreme (is there a more intense word? If so, insert here and put x10 behind it) pressure to produce another gold medal for the home team. So…he might be home warming up, stretching or otherwise getting ready to win his event by 1/100th of a second or more if he can.
Other candidates include a victim of the recent earthquake. Yao Ming is a candidate. BOCOG can save money by making a shorter torch. And Yao could probably reach the cauldron without leaving the basketball arena.
Athletes have lit the fire in the past. Here’s a list -
Berlin 1936 – Fritz Schilgen – Athletics
London 1948 – John Mark – Athletics
Helsinki 1952 – Hannes Kolehmainen – Athletics
Melbourne 1956 – Ron Clarke – Athletics
Rome 1960 – Giancarlo Peris – Athletics
Tokyo 1964 – Yoshinori Sakaï – Schoolchild
Mexico City 1968 – Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo – Athletics
Munich 1972 – Günter Zahn – Athletics (junior)
Montreal 1976 – Sandra Henderson and Stéphane Préfontaine – Athletics (juniors)
Moscow 1980 – Sergei Belov – Basketball
Los Angeles 1984 – Rafer Johnson – Athletics
Seoul 1988 – Chung Sun-Man, Kim Won-Tak, Sohn Mi-Chung – Athletics
Barcelona 1992 – Antonio Rebollo – Archery
Atlanta 1996 – Muhammad Ali – Boxing
Sydney 2000 – Cathy Freeman – Athletics
Athens 2004 – Nikolaos Kaklamanakis – Sailing
Not sure who it will be, but my guess, it’ll be an athlete of some sort. Or maybe a panda.
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