Update on Olympic flame's relay through Beijing

Описание: (9 Jun 2004)

1. Wide shot of Sang Lan in her wheelchair, holding unlit torch, moving along surrounded by crowds in Summer Palace Park
2. Tilt up of Sang Lan in wheelchair
3. Close up of torch and Sang Lan's face
4. Wide shot of students of Beijing University
5. Sang Lan smiling and waving hand
6. Relay runner with lit torch, running with a crowd of people
7. Relay runner lighting Sang Lan's torch
8. Various of Sang Lan with lit torch moving through park, surrounded by crowds
9. Wide shot of Pagoda at Summer Palace
10. Yao Ming (Chinese basketball player) being passed the Olympic torch
11. Various of Yao Ming running with torch on bridge, children running behind
12. Press
13. Yao Ming walks forward to light eternal Olympic flame with torch
14. Close up of flame

STORYLINE:

The Beijing leg of the 2004 Athens Olympics torch relay got under way on Wednesday in the heart of the Chinese capital, with a host of sports celebrities carrying the flame in relays during the fifth stop on its unprecedented around-the-world journey.

The flame was carried past historic sites such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven on the 50-kilometre (31-mile) route which ended at the Summer Palace, the former imperial resort in the city's northwest.

Yao Ming, the Chinese basketball star, carried the torch the last lap of the journey and there lit a ceremonial flame, with crowds of ecstatic onlookers cheering.

Other torchbearers included former Olympic table tennis champion Deng Yaping and gymnast Sang Lan, who was paralysed from the waist down in a fall.

Earlier the torch was lit in a special ceremony on the steps of the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China's legislature.

The flame arrived in Beijing from Seoul on Tuesday and was carried to a section of the Great Wall, where a welcome ceremony was held.

It's in Beijing for two days because the city is hosting the 2008 Olympics.

The torch is to be carried 46,800 miles (75,300 kilometres) across six continents, 27 countries and 33 cities by about 11 thousand runners.

It is scheduled to travel to New Delhi next.

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