President of Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) Minos Kyriakou announced in Athens on Thursday that the Olympic silver medalist Ms. Pigi Devetzi will be the last torchbearer, who will light the Olympic Flame at the altar of the Panathenian Stadium on March 30, shortly before handing over to Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee.
According to the schedule, the Olympic Flame will be handed over to Beijing 2008 Olympic Organizing Committee at 3 p.m. at Panathenian Stadium in Athens.
Since 2005, Greek sports editors have been voting for Devetzi as the top female Greek athlete. Devetzi went in for sports, first for artistic gymnastics, then for volleyball, and continued with the long jump before ending up a triple jumper.
The year of 2004 was a turning point in her career. She stood up on the third step of the podium at the World Indoor Athletics Championship in Budapest with a 14.73 leap. At the Athens 2004 Games, she got a silver medal with a 15.25 meters jump, the third best performance ever.
She came third at the Osaka World Championship last year with a 15.05 meters jump.
Devetzi said she is very happy to be chosen as the last torchbearer for the Beijing Olympic Games Torch Relay in Greece. She said that she hasn't been to China but she is expecting to achieve a good result in Beijing Olympic Games in August.
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2008)