ISTANBUL - More than 10 hours before the Beijing Olympic flame arrived in the Turkish largest city of Istanbul, torchbearers here said Wednesday that they were excited over Thursday's memorable moment of the torch relay.
The sacred flame of the Beijing Olympics will arrive at Istanbul international airport in the early hours on Thursday to start the second leg of the unprecedented global torch relay. The first leg has been held in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty.
In Istanbul, a total of 78 Turkish athletes, artists and media people, along with two diplomats from the Chinese embassy in Turkey, will carry the Olympic torch through the city, which is the only one in the world located on two continents -- Asia and Europe.
The Istanbul route is 17.8 kilometers long and every torchbearer will run a stretch of some 200 meters on average.
At a pre-relay preparation meeting held on Wednesday, these torch bearers received their white-and-red relay uniform.
Tekin Okan, a blind goalball player and the only blind torchbearer in Istanbul, told Xinhua that he is tremendously happy and excited to be a part of the Beijing Olympic torch relay.
"The Olympic torch relay is something which brings bright and peace. I am really happy, honored and excited to be chosen as a bearer," said the 20-year-old athlete, who was blind at the age of nine.
"I am not able to see the flame, but when I hold the torch, I will certainly feel it, fell the heat," he said. "Being a torchbearer is a pleasant thing for my life, and I will never forget it in the rest of my life."
Okan, with the help from his coach Gokhan Ince, is scheduled to run the 27th stretch. "I am well prepared with knowledge and skills about the torch relay," he said.
Okan has helped his country to win a European goalball champion in 2007 and the third place in a world-level goalball competition in 2005, according to Ince.
Okan, who came to Istanbul from the Turkish capital Ankara for Thursday's torch relay, said he had failed to represent Turkey to compete in the Beijing Paralympic Games, but he would work harder for this end.
Another torchbearer, 63-year-old Hasan Capan, shared the same excitement with Okan.
