Beijing - Active sports heroes Yao Ming and Liu Xiang may have been mentioned most as favourites to light the Olympic cauldron, but the man who was eventually picked stands for the modern China. Li Ning won three gold medals, two silvers and one bronze in gymnastics at China's Olympic debut 1984 in Los Angeles. He is now a successful businessman with a shoe and sports goods company, Beijing Li Ning Sports. Li Ning stocks rose on the Hong Kong exchange earlier Friday as speculation grew that the 44-year-old would get the extraordinary honour. He did so in awesome style, lifted high in the air by ropes, circling the stadium and then lighting the giant cauldron. Li follows a proud tradition of final torch bearers, including Muhammad Ali 1996 in Atlanta and Cathy Freeman 2000 in Sydney. Born in a Zhuang family on September 8,...
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