China Focus

Li protected Olympic torch on world relay

By Jin Zhu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-20 07:45

Members of the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch relay team were in deep sorrow yesterday for their former teammate Li Xiaoming, who was one of the eight Chinese peacekeepers killed in the massive earthquake in Haiti.

A simple but solemn memorial was held by the Beijing Olympic City Development Association yesterday afternoon.

A nearly 70-sq m room was crowed with over 100 mourners dressed in dark colors with chrysanthemums in their hands. Many sobbed and could hardly control their tears when they saw the big picture hanging on the wall showing Li with a big smile in his Olympic uniform.

"Life is full of uncertainty. When I took the photo for him in St. Petersburg, which was the third leg of the torch relay in April 2008, I never thought there would be no chance to give him the photo," said Wang Beibei, one of Li's former colleagues.

Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the association, said she believed Li would be able to escape from the earthquake because of his strong and healthy body. "He should be the person rescuing other people, not the deceased," she said.

Li was assigned to East Timor as a peacekeeping police officer for the first time in 2001 when he was only 26. Since then, he had been assigned to six other countries and regions, including Haiti, Afghanistan and Kosovo.

Li showed his outstanding abilities responding to challenges when the torch relay visited 19 overseas countries and cities.

"Li said that no matter what the difficulties were, to protect the torch was his biggest responsibility," said Li Ziyong, deputy director of the torch relay center.

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"The certificate of honor for his outstanding performance in the Beijing Olympics was still in my drawer. He will never receive it now," Li added.

Young, smart and warm hearted were the common impressions among Li's former colleagues.

Wang Xu, who worked with him during the torch relay in overseas cities in 2008, said thanks to Li's help he could collect city maps of all the 19 cities.

"He could speak English very fluently. When we arriving in a new place, he would help me buy a local map. These were all his contributions," Wang said on the verge of tears.