Paralympic torch ready for Opening Ceremony

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Source: beijing2008.cn | 09-06-2008 11:48

The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Torch Relay has concluded in Beijing's Chaoyang park. The next stop for the flame is the opening ceremony for the Paralympics at the "Bird's Nest", the National Stadium.

Last torchbearer Zhao Jihua, a former official of the Chinese Disabled Persons' Federation (Photo: beijing2008.cn)

Paralympic fever burned brightly in eastern Beijing's Chaoyang park, where the final leg of the torch relay was held.

Crowds cheered the performance of wheelchair artists, showing their talent to welcome the flame.

Fireworks Square inside the park was the starting point for the last day of the relay. The first torchbearer was Xu Yuansheng, a coach from the China Disabled Athlete Olympic Sport Management center.

A total of 120 torchbearers passed the flame hand to hand over a 5.5 kilometers route inside the park. Among them, 40 are people with disabilities.

They were cheered by thousands of spectators chanting "Go China, Go Paralympics."

The Paralympic flame was lit on August the 28th at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Carrying the concepts of "transcendence, integration and equality", the flame has been relayed along two routes through China.

After a more than one and a half hour relay, the flame was handed to the last torchbearer, Zhao Jihua, the team leader of the previous Chinese Paralympic delegation.

Zhao then passed the flame to the keepers in the east square of the Olympic Beach Volleyball Ground, who will transport it to the National Stadium, concluding the final leg of the Beijing Paralympic torch relay.

The flame will burn atop the "Bird's Nest" at the opening ceremony for the Beijing Paralympic Games Saturday night. It will be a night of reunion and the fulfillment of a dream for more than four-thousand disabled athletes from around the world.