The torch for the Beijing Olympics.
(ATR) Recruitment is now underway in Beijing for what will be a record number of torchbearers for an Olympic torch relay.
Organizers of the 2008 relay announced on June 23 the launch of the search for 21,880 torch bearers, including 19,400 from mainland China.
The previous highest number of torch bearers was 13,300 for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Atlanta in 1996 had almost the same number as Sydney, while Athens recruited 12,102. Montreal in 1976 used just 1,214 torch bearers, BOCOG said.
"Under the theme of 'Journey of Harmony' and slogan 'Light the Passion, Share the Dream', the torchbearer selection program aims to involve the public participation in a most broad and extensive way," said Zhang Ming, the director of the BOCOG Olympic Torch Relay Center.
"It will recruit a group of torchbearers who are most deserving and worth of carrying the Olympic Flame within their communities," she said.
Among the selection criteria, all torch bearers must "patriotic and dedicated to the Olympic Movement", have contributed to the "building of a harmonious society", and be distinguished for remarkable feats in his or her profession or community", Zhang said.
According to tradition, the Olympic flame will be lit in ancient Olympia, Greece, on March 25, 2008.
The torch relay will travel across Greece to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
A handover ceremony will be held in the stadium before sending the Olympic flame to Beijing on March 31, 2008.
In April, BOCOG listed Taiwan in the torch relay route under political conditions that the island state deemed unacceptable.
BOCOG executive vice president Jiang Xiaoyu said Saturday that he still hoped Taiwan would accept an agreement that he said the island's Olympic officials had made.
Taiwan objected to China listing Taiwan in the route immediately before the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau, which are followed by a succession of Chinese mainland cities. Officials in Taiwan view this routing as an attempt to portray the island as part of its domestic leg.
With reporting from Beijing by Bill Smith.
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