Beijing Sends Paralympic Relay Invitations to Three Countries
Canadian Paralympic Committee president Carla Qualtrough. (ATR/B.Mackin)Beijing may have cancelled the international Paralympic torch relay but the four cities which would have hosted the relay are now invited to China to participate in the domestic relay, Canadian Paralympic Committee president Carla Qualtrough tells Around the Rings.
Qualtrough said BOCOG has offered, at its expense, to bring 10 delegates from each city: Vancouver, Whistler, London and Sochi.
"We didn't propose it, they came up with it on their own and we're very grateful for it," Qualtrough said.
She hopes one of the Vancouver representatives will be Mayor Sam Sullivan.
"That would be a great symbol," she said. The mayor received the Olympic flag on behalf of his city in Turin. He also uses a wheelchair and is a disabled sailing supporter.
The international relay was supposed to stop in the four sites of future Paralympics, but it was canceled last month, the May 11 earthquake in Sichuan province cited as the reason for the cancellation.
The Beijing Paralympics run Sept. 6 to 17.
European Leaders Divide on Olympic Attendance
Hours after French president Nicolas Sarkozy confirms he will attend the Olympics opening ceremony, the president of the European Parliament says he will decline to go.
Sarkozy's announcement came in a written statement released as he and his Chinese counterpart Volunteers practice handing out medals in Beijing a month ahead of the Games. The women have already been training for months, practicing their poise, smiles and make-up application. (Getty Images)Hu Jintao finished a meeting during the G-8 Summit in Japan.
Sarkozy consulted with his European counterparts and eventually decided to go in his roles both as president of France and as president of the European Council, according to the statement released by the Elysee palace.
The statement contains no mention of Tibet. Last week Sarkozy told a French TV program that he would decide about the Games after assessing the results of talks between Beijing and representatives of the Dalai Lama.
The Chinese internet-surfing public, however, is chilly on Sarkozy's attendance. A pair of online surveys, one from Sina, one from Xinhua, find about nine of every ten respondents prefer Sarkozy stay home.
Just after the Sarkozy announcement, European Parliament president Hans-Gert Pottering announced his intention to stay home, citing a lack of progress during the talks between China and representatives of the Dalai Lama last week.
Domestic Torch Relay
The Olympic torch finishes its journey through Baotou, the largest city in Inner Mongolia, after a July 9 morning relay in the city of Ordos.
Paralympic javelin champion Ha Silao carried the first torch in the morning. One-time national marathon champion Hu Gangjun started the relay in Baotou. Both relays involved 104 torchbearers and covered less than 7 km. Starting next week, Beijing will begin staffing hundreds of traffic security points where cars from outside the city will be subject to inspection by security officers and sniffer dogs, according to the municipal security bureau. (Getty Images)
The Inner Mongolia relays follow a string of similar low-key runs in other cities and towns in the northern central China provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi.
On July 10, the torch tours the city of Chifeng, its last stop in Inner Mongolia.
The next day, the torch appears in China's far northeastern city of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province and one of the four cities bidding for the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games planned for 2012.
According to the BOCOG schedule, the torch relay will then work its way south past Beijing, turn briefly toward the capital, then jump to Sichuan for an Aug. 3 to 5 visit.
Beijing Briefs…
U.S. president George Bush says he'll have his eye on U.S.-China matches during the Olympic Games. "I'm really looking forward to watching the American Olympic team compete, particularly with the mighty Chinese team," he said, in comments to media during the G-8 Summit in Japan. Chinese officials gather at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for a mobilization meeting thirty days ahead of the Games. Chinese vice president Xi Jinping exhorted the delegates in charge of operations from security to utilities to host successful Olympic and Paralympic Games that will satisfy the world. (Getty Images)"I'm hoping to get tickets for the U.S.-Chinese basketball game," he joked, going on to ask Chinese president Hu Jintao if he could help with tickets. The two men's basketball teams meet on August 10.
Olympic commemorative 10-yuan notes are trading for 30 times their face value, according to state media reports. At some banks, people spent the night of July 8 in line for the chance to get a new note bearing the Bird's Nest stadium and other Olympic imagery. A total of six million bills will be distributed.
Media Watch…
Some "western media" grumbling about Chinese visa and security procedures prove they do not understand the importance of Olympic security, according to a People's Daily editorial. Another one, reproduced in Xinhua, says the Olympics are a brand new start for Chinese nation after the Sichuan earthquake.
Written by Elsy Belina and Maggie Lee
With reporting from Bob Mackin in Vancouver.
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