The Olympic torch has been carried by top leaders, celebrities and former Games greats on the six international legs of its global odyssey so far - but none has made as big a splash as a Chinese woman dubbed "smiling angel in a wheelchair".

Her incredible courage in protecting the Olympic torch from repeated assaults by Tibetan separatists in Paris has made her the stuff of legend - and an Internet phenomenon.

Jin Jing, 27, a Paralympic fencer, returned home on Wednesday to a heroine's welcome and was mobbed at Beijing's Capital International Airport.

Jin, a Shanghai native, lost part of her right leg when she was 9 after suffering a malignant tumor in her ankle. She survived the ordeal and became a member of the Chinese national wheelchair fencing team; and won a silver and a bronze in the 2002 Busan Far East and South Pacific Games.

Jin was the third torchbearer in the Paris relay on Monday but before her torch was lit, several protesters threw themselves at Jin, who used all her strength to protect the torch from being snatched away by the separatists.

Jin said her chin and shoulders were scratched, but clung on to the torch. "I didn't feel the pain I only wanted to protect the torch," she said.

"The message I wanted to convey to those separatists: I'd rather die than let go of the torch."