The proud smiles on the faces of each of China's red-and-white-uniformed Olympic torchbearers have been immortalized for posterity.

Zhang Jin and the special banner composed of Beijing Olympic torchbearers' images. [Shi Chunyang/China Daily]

Coca-Cola presented to BOCOG officials on Friday a mold-breaking Olympic five-ring banner, composed of individual images of the 20,000 Beijing Olympic torchbearers on the day they carried the sacred flame. The priceless item is to be donated to a museum.

The 2.5 m x 4.5 m banner constitutes a record of the Beijing Olympic torch relay (BOTR)'s four-month journey through 127 cities around the world, Lin Xiaohua, deputy director of BOCOG's BOTR department, told a press briefing after the presentation.

The odyssey, which ended on Aug 8 with former athlete Li Ning's spectacular ignition of the main cauldron, drew an incredible 100 million spectators to the streets of China and of all five continents.

"The banner evokes the unforgettable BOTR days and nights when we worked side by side with the delegation's Coca-Cola representatives," Lin, who accompanied the relay from start to finish, said.

"It also recalls the pride and dignity with which we brought the flame back to Beijing," he added.

Involving the maximum number of local people in the event was the main purpose of the BOTR campaign, both for BOCOG and Coca-Cola, the company's torch relay director Zhang Jin told China Daily.

"This is where our unique image - as purveyors of affordable soft drink to everyone everywhere regardless of class, religious or cultural differences - came into play," he said. "It enabled us to reach out to ordinary people, hence the best platform for communicating Olympic ideals to the world."

Zhang was at pains to point out that 1,128 of the 1,417 Beijing Games torch relays selected by the company on the Chinese mainland were reserved for the common people, and that Coca-Cola, the Games' top sponsor, received a record 310 million votes for its 2 million nominations for torchbearers.

Zhang, who has also followed the torch's path over the past four months, said that as regards investment, BOTR had been integral to Coca-Cola's multi-million 2008 Olympic campaign.

"The largest proportion of promotion fees from the majority of non-co-host cities went towards the torch relay, because it brought the Beijing Olympics to each, and consequently their entire province," he said.

(China Daily August 16, 2008)