page_title: 2008 Summer Olympics
section_title: Torch relay
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 Summer Olympics / Torch relay
caption_attribution_description: Official Olympic Torch of the 2008 Summer Olympics on display in Vilnius on February 16, 2008. The Torch was displayed in Vilnius on February 14-18, presented by Lenovo Group, the official Olympic Torch designer. Українська: Офіційний олімпійський факел, Літніх Олімпійських ігор в Пекіні 2008, продемонстрований у Вільнюсі 16 лютого 2008 року.
context_page_description: The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, and commonly known as Beijing 2008, was an international multi-sport event that was held from 8 to 24 August 2008 in Beijing, China.
  A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events. This was the first time that China had hosted the Summer Olympics, and the third time that the Games had been held in Asia, following the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. These were the third summer Olympic Games staged in a developing country after the Mexico City 1968 Summer Olympics and the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union.
  Beijing was awarded the 2008 Games over four competitors on 13 July 2001, having won a majority of votes from members of the International Olympic Committee after two rounds of voting. The Government of the People's Republic of China promoted the Games and invested heavily in new facilities and transport systems. A total of 37 venues were used to host the events, including twelve constructed specifically for the 2008 Olympics.
context_section_description: The design of the 2008 Olympic Torch was based on traditional scrolls and used a traditional Chinese design known as the "Propitious Clouds" (祥云). The torch was designed to remain lit in 65 km/h (40 mph) winds, and in rain of up to 50 mm (2 in) per hour.
  The relay, with the theme "Journey of Harmony", was met with protests and demonstrations by pro-Tibet supporters throughout its journey. It lasted 130 days and carried the torch 137,000 km (85,000 mi)—the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition began at the 1936 Berlin Games. The torch relay was described as a "public relations disaster" for China by USA Today, with protests against China's human rights record, particularly focused on Tibet. The IOC subsequently barred future Olympics organizers from staging international torch relays.
  The relay began 24 March 2008, in Olympia, Greece. From there, it traveled across Greece to Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, and then to Beijing, arriving on 31 March. From Beijing, the torch followed a route passing through every continent except Antarctica. The torch visited cities on the Silk Road, symbolizing ancient links between China and the rest of the world. A total of 21,880 torchbearers were selected from around the world by various organizations and entities.
  The international portion of the relay was problematic. The month-long world tour encountered wide-scale anti-Chinese protests. After trouble in London involving attempts by protesters to put out the flame, the torch was extinguished in Paris the following day. The American leg in San Francisco on 9 April was altered without prior warning to avoid such disturbances, although there were still demonstrations along the original route. The relay was further delayed and simplified after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake hit western China.
  The flame was carried to the top of Mount Everest on a 108 km (67 mi) long "highway" scaling the Tibetan side of the mountain, built especially for the relay. The $19.7 million blacktop project spanned from Tingri County of Xigazê Prefecture to the Everest Base Camp. In March 2008, China banned mountaineers from climbing its side of Mount Everest, and later persuaded the Nepalese government to close their side as well, officially citing environmental concerns. It also reflected concerns by the Chinese government that Tibet activists may try to disrupt its plans to carry the Olympic torch up the world's tallest peak.
  The originally proposed route would have taken the torch through Taipei after leaving Vietnam and before heading for Hong Kong. However, the government of Taiwan (then led by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party) objected to this proposal, claiming that this route would make the portion of the relay in Taiwan appear to be part of the torch's domestic journey through China, rather than a leg on the international route. This dispute, as well as Chinese demands that the flag and the national anthem of the Republic of China be banned along the route led the government of Taiwan to reject the proposal that it be part of the relay route, and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait subsequently blamed each other for injecting politics into the event.
caption: 2008 Olympic Torch in Vilnius, Lithuania
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A520", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:02:16 16:53:04", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2548", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2726", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "13/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:02:16 16:53:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:02:16 16:53:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "11/4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "11/4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "93/16", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1600", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "1200", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1600", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1860", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "50000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "50000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}