Qian Hong, the Women's 100m Butterfly champion at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games started out the Tangshan leg of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay under drizzly skies at 8:10 a.m. on Thursday.

BOCOG The first torchbearer Qian Hong (R)

The 10.1 kilometer route was run by 208 torchbearers in about four hours. Tangshan is the third and last leg of the Torch Relay in Hebei Province. Tianjin will host the next leg of the Torch Relay on Friday, August 1.

Qian was born on January 1, 1971. She became a member of the Hebei swimming team in 1983 and a member of the national team in 1985. Throughout her swimming career, she won 30 national championships and 51 world championships. After she won the Women's 100m Butterfly at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, she was recognized as a part of the famous "Five Golden Flowers" of China. This group, which includes Yang Wenyi (50 meter Freestyle champion), Zhuang Yong (100 meter Freestyle champion), Lin Li (200 meter Individual Medley champion) and Wang Xiaohong (200 meter Butterfly silver medalist), symbolizes the progress of swimming in China.

The industrial city of Tangshan is perfectly situated at the center of the triangle formed by Beijing, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao. Completely recovered from the nightmare of the 1976 earthquake, which took 240,000 human lives overnight, the city is now a symbol of economic growth and social development. Abundant in natural resources, Tangshan sells coal, crude oil, steel, and other materials over the world.

(BOCOG July 31, 2008)