Hurdler Liu Xiang and Chinese President Hu Jintao. (Getty Images)Chinese President Leads Welcome for Olympic Flame
The Olympic flame is now in Beijing after a flight from Greece and a welcoming ceremony in Tiananmen Square led by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
The flame arrived Monday morning and was shuttled from the airport to Tiananmen Square for the midday ceremony which was nationally televised.
Hu lit a cauldron during the ceremony and then held the torch aloft before passing it to Liu Xiang, the reigning 110m hurdles Olympic and world champion, a sporting hero in China.
The ceremony went without interruption, held under heavy security presence, with the ceremony sealed off from the general public. The Olympic flame arrives in Tiananmen Square. (Getty Images)
Only 5,000 selected guests had been invited to attend, including cheer squads waiving Chinese and Olympic flags.
IOC Coordination Commission chair Hein Verbruggen, addressed the ceremony on behalf of IOC president Jacques Rogge.
“The Olympic Flame has arrived in Beijing, announcing that the first ever Olympic Games in China will soon begin,” said Verbruggen.
“It is the torch's ability to touch us that allows it to reach out to the world, beyond the host city, to bring the Olympic values closer to society and call the people of the world to the Games.
“I am certain that the Games themselves, will not only be a moment of sporting excellence, but also an opportunity for the people of China and the world to learn, discover and respect each other.” Liu Xiang holds the torch aloft. (Getty Images)
The flame is scheduled to depart from Beijing on Tuesday for Almaty, Kazakhstan , the first of 19 cities around the world that the relay will visit in the next month.
The relay returns to China for a three-month journey throughout the country, including an ambitious plan to take the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Everest. A separate flame, kindled in the ceremony Monday, will travel Tuesday to Lhasa, Tibet in preparation for the Everest climb, expected in early May.
Beijing Smoking Ban ahead of Olympics
Beijing is banning smoking in most public places from May as part of its efforts to improve the city ahead of the Olympics, state-run media reports.
The ban, to take effect on May 1, extends to all restaurants, offices and schools in the Chinese capital, making it the first city in China to have such a comprehensive ban, according to the China Daily.
Hotels will also be required to also have rooms for non-smokers, but the ratios are still being discussed, a tobacco control expert involved in drafting the new laws, has told the newspaper.
Bars will be made to clearly distinguish smoking from non-smoking areas, the report says. Venues accommodating athletes and officials during the Games will all be non-smoking.
Aussie Swimmer Could Lose Beijing Spot over Bar Fight
An urgent investigation is underway to decide whether Nick D'Arcy will represent Australia in swimming at the Beijing Games now that he faces assault charges for a fight in a Sydney bar.
He is charged in the battering of retired swimmer Simon Cowley, 27, who has a broken jaw, broken nose, fractured eye socket, crushed cheekbone and fractured palate. He is expected to undergo surgery this week.
The injuries occurred during an altercation at a harborside bar in the early hours of Sunday morning, just hours after D'Arcy, 20, had been named in the 42-member Australian swimming team for Beijing.
D'Arcy, the national Nick D’Arcy is Australian butterfly champion, but legal problems could keep him out of Beijing. (Getty Images)200m butterfly champion, has been interviewed at Sydney Central police station and charged with assault and assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, which could lead to a jail term.
D’Arcy will make his first court appearance to face the charges on April 21 in Sydney.
The Australian Olympic Committee has announced it will jointly investigate the incident with Swimming Australia as a matter of urgency and as soon as possible.
“AOC Vice President Peter Montgomery will chair the investigation during my two-week absence overseas,” AOC president John Coates says in a statement.
“He will be joined by Glenn Tasker (Swimming Australia CEO) and AOC Director of Sport Fiona de Jong.”
Coates says the panel will conduct interviews with D’Arcy and Cowley and any other athletes present during the incident and any athletes interviewed will be entitled to legal representation.
Among the witnesses police interviewed was Olympic swim team member Eamon Sullivan, who set 50m and 100m world records during selection trials the previous week.
“It obviously wasn't a great thing to see," Sullivan told the Nine television network outside the police station.
The legal process is expected to have run its course by the time D'Arcy is due to join his team mates at the pre-Games camp in Kuala Lumpur on July 23. But a team camp is due to convene in Canberra on April 23, two days after D’Arcy’s first scheduled court appearance.
With reporting from Anthony Stavrinos in Sydney.
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