The Beijing Olympics organizers, BOCOG, on Wednesday unveiled the timetable of the torch relay for the 29th Olympic Games, slated to open next August, according to the Beijing Morning Post.

The schedule states that the torch will be lit in Olympia, Greece, on March 24, 2008, followed by a relay starting in that country.

The flame will be handed over to the BOCOG on March 30 in Athens, where the 2004 Olympic Games were held. It will arrive in Beijing one day later.

Then the torch will continue to be relayed abroad from April 1 to May 3, covering 97,000 kilometers worldwide with participation of 2380 bearers.

Following that, the torch will continue to be relayed inside China from May 4, finally return to Beijing on August 6, two days before the Games commence.

19,400 native bearers will carry the torch one after another in 97 days, covering 40,000 kilometers in 113 Chinese cities, including four municipalities, the capitals of 27 provinces and autonomous regions, as well as five co-hosting cities and places on the UN natural and cultural heritage list.

The Beijing Olympic torch relay will span 130 days, covering a total distance of 137,000 kilometers worldwide, the longest in the Olympic torch relay history.

(CRI October 25, 2007)