Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games Torch Relay gets underway

At the Beijing School for the Blind, 30 students and teachers sang ‘World with Love’ 02 Mar 2022

Students and choir members from the Beijing School for Blind feel and touch the torch as torchbearer Dr. Yao Yufeng (L) holds it out after the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics Torch Relay.

THE SMILE SAYS IT ALL: Students and choir members from the Beijing School for Blind feel and touch the torch as torchbearer Dr. Yao Yufeng (L) holds it out after the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics Torch Relay.

ⒸKevin Frayer/Getty Images

By IPC

The Torch Relay for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games got underway on Wednesday. In all, 565 torchbearers will be participating in the relay at Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou competition zones.

The flame of the Paralympic Torch will be a combination of nine flames brought together from nine different locations.

The Paralympic Heritage Flame was first lit at Stock Mandeville, London, the birthplace of Paralympics on 1 March, and the remaining eight flames were lit on Wednesday (2 March) in schools, libraries and historic landmarks across the three Paralympics competition zones.

Some of the landmarks include Beijing School for the Blind, Badaling Ancient Great Wall, and Temple of Heaven, among others. These nine flames then united into the official flame at the Temple of Heaven Park, an architectural marvel of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Every flame collection point witnessed around 20 torchbearers in action. At the Beijing School for the Blind, 30 students and teachers sang ‘World with Love’. As they hit a high note, a pressure sensor activated a device to light one of the eight flames.

Some of the torchbearers at the school were, Cheng Kai, vice-chairman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, goalball athlete Yang Mingyuan, blind soccer player Zhu Ruiming and special education teachers. A few of the students will also be part of the Opening Ceremony on Friday.

Torch Relay 1 — Chinese Paralympic gold medalist Hou Bin lifts his arms during the Torch Relay at the Temple Of Heaven in Beijing, China. © Kevin Frayer/Getty

The Torch Relay on Thursday, 3 March is scheduled to travel inside Beijing's ‘closed-loop’ COVID-19 prevention system, to ensure Games organisers, athletes and officials are separated from the population.

The relay will pass through four places in Zhangjiakou in the morning and later in the afternoon, the torch relay will be held at two places in Beijing, including the Olympic Forest South Park. Here, 20 torchbearers from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Family will be carrying the torch.

The final leg of the torch relay will be held on Friday continuing at three more locations including, the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee (BOCOG) headquarters before the cauldron is lit during the Opening Ceremony.