Overseas Chinese cheer for the torch relay in Canberra, Austrilia, April 24, 2008. Canberra is the 15th stop of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay.

The 15th leg of the global Olympic flame journey was completed in Canberra this noon as scheduled without major disruptions.

Ian Thorpe, five-time gold medalist, ran as the last torch bearer and lighted the cauldron at 11:30 with loud cheers and applauses from the spectators at the Stage 88 in the Commonwealth Park in the downtown of the capital city.

During the torch relay, tens of thousands of spectators, many of them enthusiastic Chinese expatriates and students, had lined both sides of the streets, waited hours and followed the torch bearers along the route, chanting support for the Beijing Olympics.