3 Pinoys to Carry Olympic Torch Posted at 6/18/2008 01:25:00 PM 0 comments (+) Three Filipinos, including CNN’s Beijing bureau chief, have been selected by the Beijing city government to carry the Olympic torch in the ongoing torch relay for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The Philippine Embassy in Beijing reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that the Filipino Olympic torch bearers are CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz, his 17-year-old daughter Michelle, and marketing executive Marco Torres.

FlorCruz, a former Time magazine Beijing bureau chief, first arrived in Beijing in August 1971. He was one of the 15 Filipino youths who were invited by the China Friendship Association for a three-week study tour. He said that by a strange twist of fate, he stayed on and 37 years later, he is still in China.

“I covered the 1988 Seoul Olympics for Time magazine and Sports Illustrated. Now I am looking forward to covering the Beijing Games as well, this time as CNN’s Beijing bureau chief. It would be fun not just to report on it but to actually participate as one of the torch bearers during the relay,” FlorCruz said.

He is scheduled to carry the Olympic torch on Aug. 6 in Beijing, two days before the opening ceremonies. His daughter Michelle, a student at the International School in Beijing, will carry the Olympic torch on Aug. 3 in Tangshan City.

“I was ‘Made in China,’ born in the Philippines, and bred in Beijing. I guess that makes me a top quality product, a fusion of different cultures,” Michelle said.

Torres, 38, on the other hand, will carry the Olympic torch on July 5 in Lanzhou, Gansu province. He placed second among eight foreigners selected by an Olympic sponsor company to carry the Olympic torch through an Internet voting competition called “Expats for Olympic Torchbearers” last year.

“I love Beijing and I love the Olympics. Proof of this is that I declined an opportunity to move to Shanghai if only for the Olympics. I also know now that my destiny of being in the Olympics will be fulfilled,” Torres said.


:: By Pia Lee-Brago of The Philippine Star

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