In 1990, a 14-year-old Tibetan girl lit a flame at the foot of Mount Tangula, to start the torch relay for the Beijing Asian Games.
Dawa Yangzong holds a Beijing Olympic torch. [China Daily] |
Eighteen years later, Dawa Yangzong will today run a leg of the Olympic torch relay in her hometown of Lhasa.
"To be honest, I had no idea about the Asian Games or the Olympics when I lit the torch 18 years ago," Dawa Yangzong, who is now the mother of a 7-year-old boy, said.
"It wasn't until I attended the opening and closing ceremonies of the Asian Games that I realized how big a sports event it was."
Dawa Yangzong, who now works as a teacher at Tibet University, said she was probably selected to light the flame because of her sunny smile and classical Tibetan features. Whatever the reason, the honor stimulated her interest in sport.
"I have been interested in sport ever since, and always keep a close eye on big events like the Olympics," she said.
In 2004, when she was chosen as a torchbearer for the Athens Olympics, Dawa Yangzong said she was thinking all the time about "how wonderful it would be to carry the torch for the Beijing Olympics".
Dawa Yangzhong in 1990. [China Daily] |
She was chosen for this year's event via a public selection process sponsored by the Lenovo Group.
Her experiences as a torchbearer, and the ensuing publicity, helped shape her life over the past decade, she said.
As a result of her celebrity, she even managed to land acting roles in several TV series and films, most of them Tibet related, she said.
Some people even consider her as an image ambassador for Tibet, she said.
"I've done lots of interviews with the media, especially since the completion of the Qinghai-Tibet railway," she said.
"People are becoming increasingly interested in Tibet, and many have told me that their first thoughts about the place came from me.
"I feel like I am a representative of Tibetan people, of Tibetan culture and its picturesque natural scenery and unique ecology, even though I am just a normal Tibetan leading an ordinary life.
"It is a great honor to be the final torchbearer. I couldn't be prouder, knowing I am showing the rest of China and the world the very best of Tibet."
