2008 Torch Relay: 28 Cities, 5 Continents

(ATR) The head of the Beijing Olympics has revealed that an international torch relay covering the globe will begin in March 2008, capped by a 70-city journey through China.

Liu Qi, president of BOCOG reported on the preliminary plans for the relay to the IOC Session in Turin. He says the Executive Board earlier this week gave its approval "in principle" to relay plans.

Liu told the IOC that the plans call for stops in 28 cities. While he and other BOCOG executives would not provide details, the number suggests stops in all the nations that have hosted Olympic Games in the past.

IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli says negotiations with NOCs of those countries will begin soon. One consideration he says will be to avoid any locations which may be bidding for the 2016 Olympics, the campaign for which will be underway at the time of the Beijing relay.

Jiang Xiaoyu, the BOCOG vice president for public relations who is also in charge of torch relay planning, tells Around the Rings he could not confirm planned stops for the relay. He says the full route will not be disclosed until 2007.

Jiang did say "more than 70 cities" will be covered by the relay once it reaches China in the month or so before the Games, including an ascent of Mount Everest.

On another matter, Jiang says that the choice of an international public relations agency for BOCOG could be made sometime during the Turin Olympics. He would not confirm whether the finalists are Hill & Knowlton and Weber Shandwick, as rumored.

On the scene coverage from Turin: www.aroundtherings.com