02-02-2022, 03:11 PM
Beijing 2022 torch relay kicks off with astronaut, celebrity athletes, Galwan Valley hero as torchbearers
![[Image: 7a2d1f6b-856c-4eb1-98c0-bfd5e6c3fe4f.jpeg]](https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2022/2022-02-02/7a2d1f6b-856c-4eb1-98c0-bfd5e6c3fe4f.jpeg)
Fourteen years after 2008, the Olympic flame took another historic run in Beijing, the only city in the world to host both Summer and Winter Olympic Games, amid the festive atmosphere of Chinese New Year.
In the torch relay on Wednesday, about 130 people, including sports legends, anti-COVID heroes, and space scientists, participated in the relay, ranging in age from 41 to 80.
The -4 C temperature didn't dampen the excitement, as the Olympic flame is often associated with a message of hope and is the most powerful symbol of the Olympic Movement. Vice-Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of a leading group overseeing the Beijing 2022 preparations, lit a creatively designed cauldron in Beijing's Olympic Forest Park with the Olympic torch on Wednesday morning, marking the official start of the descaled three-day relay.
- More -