The Olympic torch relay started its second day on Thursday atop the Great Wall, with Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan and Chinese language Olympic medallists amongst these taking turns carrying the flame alongside a route shortened to a few days due to COVID-19.

In line with Reuters, the relay for the torch that can open the Feb. 4-20 Winter Video games is rather more modest than the globe-spanning relay for Beijing’s 2008 Summer time Video games, a tour that was disrupted by protests.

Desk tennis Olympic gold medallist Ma Lengthy and Wu Jingyu, a two-time gold medallist in taekwondo, have been amongst these carrying the red-and-silver spiral torch alongside the Badaling part of the Great Wall, the place the Thursday morning temperature was a bracing -11 Celsius (12 Fahrenheit).

Chan, 67, a Hong Kong motion and comedy movie star recognized for his help of the Beijing authorities, was recognized within the official press launch by his Chinese language identify Chen Gangsheng.

“I woke up at 4 a.m. This is my fourth Olympics. I’m very happy. I’m also cold!”, Chan informed reporters after his run alongside the wall.

Badaling, the part of the wall most frequently visited by vacationers, is 70 km (45 miles) northwest of central Beijing within the Yanqing district, close to the Olympics sliding and Alpine snowboarding venues.

It was constructed round 1500 A.D. throughout the Ming dynasty.

Afterward Thursday, the torch will likely be taken to Zhangjiakou in neighbouring Hebei province, the place most of Olympic snow occasions will happen. The relay will finish with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at Friday’s opening ceremony.

Due to COVID-19, the Video games are going down inside a “closed loop” protecting opponents and different Olympics personnel away from the general public, and will likely be attended solely by small, chosen audiences