Hong Kong actress and singer Karen Mok said Sunday that the Olympic torch
was the best gift she could hope for her birthday, which falls on today.
Mok ran the day's Olympic torch relay on the Three Gorges Dam in central
China's Hubei Province. Mok was the 159th torchbearer in Yichang City. "Tomorrow
(Monday) is my birthday. The Olympic torch is the most wonderful gift I've
received."
Mok said it was the greatest honor of her life to pass on the Olympic torch.
At the top of the gigantic Three Gorges Dam, the largest of its kind in the
world, Mok ran and waved to the spectators. "It's more exciting than performing
in concerts," she said.
Yichang is the flame's second stop in Hubei where the relay lasted 19
kilometers and featured 208 torchbearers.
Olympic doubles tennis champion Li Ting opened the relay as the first
torchbearer. Chinese chess grandmaster Liu Dahua also carried the torch.
Cao Guangjing, deputy general manager of the China Yangtze Three Gorges
Project Corp, was the last runner in the Yichang relay leg.
At the launch ceremony, all torchbearers and spectators observed a minute of
silence for the victims of the May 12 earthquake. The Olympic torch relay will
next arrive in Jingzhou City, the last leg of the relay in
Hubei.