Actor Jackie Chan carried the Olympic flame on Thursday on the Great Wall of China, while the handovers began the day before, before the lighting of the cauldron on Friday during the opening ceremony.
Already in 2008, Jackie Chan held the Olympic flame as the Summer Games were about to begin in Beijing. Fourteen years later, the famous Hong Kong actor, who became legendary thanks to his kungfu films and close to the Chinese government, once again wore the jewel of Olympism. Present under his official name Chen Gangsheng, he paraded on the Great Wall, in Badaling, one of the sections closest to Beijing, two days before the opening of the Winter Games.
“I woke up at four in the morning. I am very happy. And I’m also very cold!” he told the press. If it is not snowing on site, temperatures are particularly cold in the region, dropping to -11 degrees. Olympic table tennis gold medalist Ma Long and two-time taekwondo gold medalist Wu Jingyu were also among the torchbearers on Thursday, whose relays began the day before. The final handovers will end as tradition dictates at the opening ceremony, held Friday at Beijing’s National Stadium, known as the “Bird’s Nest”. The organizers promised that the lighting of the cauldron would be unprecedented and “unprecedented in the history” of the Games. “The flame helps to bring love and peace to the world,” said Jackie Chan, saying he was happy to be able to introduce people to “Chinese culture through the Great Wall”.
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