They come from eight different countries but have one thing in common: A love for China.
Their understanding of the country is profound; their commitment, uplifting; their vision,
inspiring; and passion, contagious.
And they moved many as they articulated why they deserve to be the eight foreigners
privileged to carry the Olympic torch in China.
Thursday, they were unveiled by computer maker Lenovo as the eight expats nominated after a
month-long online campaign.
Applicants were asked to submit a profile justifying their candidacy, then frogmarched
through a public online vote. After that, a selection panel made up of Lenovo Group
officials and China Daily executives had the final say.
In a bid to restrict the winners to one per country, and keep the program as cosmopolitan as
possible, two Americans were axed from the final list despite garnering enough votes to
secure a place.
The eight foreign residents who will each carry the torch for 200 meters on Chinese soil
next year are, in order of winning votes: Jenny Bowen of the US, Marcos Torres of the
Philippines, Werner Ebel of Germany, Meena Barot of India, Yoshitoshi Mizuya of Japan, Luis
Hong-Sanchez of Colombia, Yury Ilyakhin of Russia and British-Venezuelan Deirdre Smyth.
www.cooyu.net
The campaign was organized by Lenovo Group, the worldwide partner of the Olympic torch
relay, with the help of China Daily, the country's only national English-language newspaper.
Some 262 people from 47 countries and regions vied for the eight available slots and another
245,000 voted with their mouse. Altogether, 1.5 million people comprising 156 nationalities
visited the campaign webpage.
Applicants, votes and comments poured in from all around the world after the online campaign
began on September 7, said Alice Li, vice-president, Olympic Marketing of Lenovo.
"This demonstration of enthusiasm, creativity and sense of international community is
consistent with the Olympic spirit, which cherishes the participation and unification of
different cultures and peoples," she said. "It greatly helped Lenovo increase its brand
influence."
The winners were chosen by a vote, but in order to be shortlisted they had to demonstrate
their appreciation of Chinese culture and history and their devotion to communicating
information about "the real China" to the rest of the world. www.cooyu.net
The oldest contestant was 88-year-old Eleanor Liu and the youngest was four-year-old Serena
Gao. Both were born in the United States.
Although Gao ranked sixth according to the number of votes, she was disqualified for not
meeting the minimum age requirement of 14.
Many prominent political figures, including the ambassadors of Greece and the Seychelles,
could not make it to the final eight, as did leading business figures like the presidents of
Bayer Healthcare and Chang'an Ford Mazda Automobile
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