Dorcus Inzikuru in Olympic Torch Relay

Mar 25, 2008

FORMER  3000m steeplechase champion Dorcus Inzikuru, is among high-profile personalities to grace the Olympic Torch Relay in Tanzania on April 13. This will be the first time the Torch visits East Africa since the inception of the modern relay in 1936.

By Chris Kiwawulo
and agencies


FORMER  3000m steeplechase champion Dorcus Inzikuru, is among high-profile personalities to grace the Olympic Torch Relay in Tanzania on April 13. This will be the first time the Torch visits East Africa since the inception of the modern relay in 1936.

It is also the second time it comes to Africa after its continental debut during the 2004 Athens with trips to Cape Town and Cairo.

Inzikuru, who is due back on the track after giving birth in December, is optimistic of bouncing back strongly at the Olympic Games due in Beijing in August. Dar es Salaam is one of 22 cities around the world chosen to host the torch relay, whose slogan is “Light the passion, share the dream.”

Coca-Cola, the giant soft drinks manufacturer, is sponsoring the Olympic torch relay, having taken up the initiative in 1992. The Relay is coming ahead of the Beijing show.

The Games are centred on environmental conservation and have been dubbed the Green Olympics.
The Tanzanian organisers are offering cash and other prizes for the half marathon (21km) to be held on April 6, for both the men and women’s category at Biafra Grounds. The torch relay programme includes a run through the historic sections of Dar es Salaam, before the torch leaves for Muscat, Oman.

The climax of the event will be the lighting of the cauldron during the opening ceremony of the games in Beijing’s national stadium on August 8.

In Ancient Olympia, Greece, demonstrators breached tight security and tried to hijack the Beijing Olympic torch lighting ceremony and relay in ancient Olympia on Monday.

“It is always sad to see such a ceremony disrupted,” International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said. IOC vice president Lambis Nikolaou, a Greek, was equally outraged by the disruption.

“I am furious with the fact that these people did not respect the site they were on,” Nikolaou said.

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