ANKARA - TDN - Some 125 Turkish athletes, artists and community leaders carried the torch that will ignite the flame at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games yesterday through the streets of Istanbul.
The torch came to Istanbul from Ukraine and will next go to Sofia, Bulgaria.
There were many renowned Turkish people among the torchbearers, such as Naim Suleymanoglu -- the first weightlifter in Olympic history to win three gold medals -- and Elvan Abeylegesse, a Turkish runner of Ethiopian origin who broke the world record in the women's 5,000 meters by more than three seconds at the Bislett Games last month.
Mehmet Okur, a Turkish basketball player in the NBA; Ferzan Ozpetek, an Italy-based Turkish film director; Nasuh Mahruki, a well-known mountaineer and head of Turkey's prominent search and rescue team AKUT; and journalist Mithat Bereket were among the 125 people carrying the torch.
The athletes carried the torch past some of Istanbul's historic sites, such as the Sultanahmet Mosque and the Bosporus bridge which connects Europe to Asia.
Istanbul was the first stopover for the Olympic flame in 1964, during an air voyage from Greece across Asia to the Tokyo Olympic Games.