Deputy Dar es Salaam Mayor Ahmed Mwilima, Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commissioner Alfred Tibaigana and Tanzania Olympic Committee Secretary-General Filbert Bayi left on Thursday for Beijing to finalize the Dar section of the scheduled Olympic Torch Relay.

The Tanzania Olympic Committee secretary-general told Xinhua before departing that the three-member group would join in Beijing other municipal hosts of the Olympic Torch from elsewhere in the world.

Together they will be discussing the details, both technical and logistical, about the torch relay which will be held in Dar es Salaam on April 13.

Eighty runners each covering 250 meters will together complete the Olympic Torch Relay in Dar es Salaam which starts from the Station of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway and finishes at the Mnazi Mmoja Grounds.

The government of Tanzania has already entrusted the Dar es Salaam municipal authorities to form a special committee to take charge in arranging and hosting the Dar es Salaam-section torch relay.

Filbert Bayi is one of two Tanzanians who have ever won medals at the Olympic Games. Mr. Bayi was the silver medalist in 1980 in Moscow for the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase event.

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2008)