Society

China celebrates Olympic Day with long-distance running

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-19 19:03

A girl signs her name with other people who attended a jogging to celebrate the Olympic Day in Tianjin, June 19, 2010. More than 2,000 fans of long-distance running took part in the 1.5-kilometre long jogging on Saturday.[Photo/Xinhua]

CHENGDE, Hebei province - Thousands of people in nine Chinese cities put on their trainers and joined in an Olympic Day event on Saturday.

They jogged in long distance to celebrate the Olympic Day, introduced in 1948 to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympic Games on June 23, 1894 at the Sorbonne in Paris. The goal was to promote participation in sport across the globe regardless of age, gender or athletic ability.

"Good health is where the happiness comes from. Let's take part in the sport for all campaign and live a happy life," said Liu Peng, head of the State General Administration of Sports.

Most of the cities the celebration took place once staged or are going to hold important sports events.

Beijing is the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games while Harbin held the 24th Winter World University Games last year. Guangzhou will see the Asian Games kick off later this year while Nanjing will stage the second Youth Olympic Games in 2014.