CHENGDU -- 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.
Li Xuemei in this file photo undated. [sohu.com] |
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.
