Thousands of entries have been received and more are expected as South Africans nominated candidates to participate in the Cape Town leg of the first international Olympic torch relay.
One of the sponsors, Samsung, said on Wednesday that its month-long nomination drive (ending on Wednesday) has already seen 7 800 legible entry forms counted.
”We are still waiting for more nominations from governing bodies of embassies, sporting bodies and other organisations,” said Samsung spokesperson Sarit Reouveni.
Without naming them, Reouveni said the nominations include statesmen, business leaders, celebrities, athletes, past Olympians, medical pioneers and even journalists.
”We have also received a lot of stories of ordinary South Africans, the real unsung heroes,” she said, adding that some of the nominations contain ”heart-rendering” stories.
Reouveni said because it is such an honour and prestige to be an Olympic torch bearer, each nomination has to be accompanied by a detailed form including 50 to 100 words justifying the nomination.
”The forms will go to a sub-committee, then to the main committee and then be submitted to the International Olympic Committee for security and final verification.”
Reouveni said of the 120 positions available for the Cape Town leg, 55 are allocated to Samsung, the City of Cape Town and the National Olympic Committee of South Africa.
The remaining places have been pre-allocated and these names will be made available within the first week of May.
She said the Cape Town route, which includes heritage and tourist attractions, will showcase the city to the world.
”The torch will arrive by plane in the morning of June 12 from Cairo for the start of a 55km relay, where each of the 120 torch bearers will run a distance of 400m,” she said.
Reouveni said besides the 120 torch bearers, there will be a further selection of escort runners who will be identified.
These runners will need a bit of physical stamina, because they will be required to run 2km, which means one escort runner will be allocated to every five torch bearers.
South Africa is the ninth leg of the global torch relay, covering 34 cities.
The 35-day relay starts and will end in Athens, and forms part of the centenary anniversary of the Olympic flame going back to Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic movement. — Sapa