It’s all systems go for Cape Town’s Olympic torch relay on Saturday, officials say.
The city that lost to Athens in the bid for the 2004 games is staging an event that will involve a range of distinguished South Africans, including Nelson Mandela, and see the flame travel across the city by foot, cable car and helicopter.
The flame itself arrives on Saturday morning, carried by Cape Town Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo on a flight from Cairo, where the flame will on Friday be carried by camel past the pyramids.
It will be the first time the flame, lit from a ”mother” flame in Greece, comes to South Africa.
Cape Town and Cairo are the only two African cities that will host the flame as it makes its way through 34 cities on all five continents ahead of the official Games opening ceremony on August 13.
The city’s director of sport, Gert Bam, told journalists on Thursday that the route chosen, from Delft on the Cape Flats to Table Mountain and Robben Island, ending on the Grand Parade, is one that ”really unites the whole city”.
Runners will include blind people, people in wheelchairs and one man who is 100 years old. They represent the entire spectrum of the South African nation.
The South African Police Service and its VIP unit, plus traffic and city police have put an extensive security plan in place, and have completed a thorough risk analysis.
From a traffic point of view they have devised a ”rolling closure” for the 57km route, Bam said.
Athens organising committee spokesperson for the relay Ken Meyerhoffer said he does not anticipate any particular problems.
He said all the aluminium and olive wood torches that will be carried by the bearers have been sold, though he was not sure if they have all been bought by the bearers themselves.
Each torch costs €305 (about R2 440), he said.
A back-up flame will be on hand during the relay if the flame goes out at any point.
National Olympic Committee of South Africa president Sam Ramsamy said he is delighted that the torch is coming to Cape Town.
”Cape Town is going to display what all of South Africa wants to show, passion about the Olympic Games, passion about sport, passion about the country,” he said.
”We are all looking forward to a great day.”
From Cape Town, the flame goes to Rio de Janiero in Brazil, which will stage its relay on Sunday. — Sapa