Volkswagen Sets Out as Main Automobile Sponsor of Olympic Torch Relay

Olympic Torch Goes on Tour

Wolfsburg / Olympia, 25 March 2008 - A majestic ceremony has been held yesterday to mark the start of the journey of the Olympic Torch to Beijing. In its role as a major sponsor of the Greek Olympic Committee (HOC), Volkswagen is providing 30 vehicles for the Relay in Greece and has entered 20 of the 605 runners taking part in the event.

Greek priestesses yesterday lighted the Olympic Flame at the ancient site of Olympia. A whole host of renowned Greek political figures as well as IOC President Jacques Rogge attended the ceremony and will greet the Volkswagen Torch bearers and other participants in the Relay, among them Felix Magath (coach of the Bundesliga football club VfL Wolfsburg), Hans-Joachim Stuck (motor-racing legend), Nadine Ernsting (Olympic gold medallist in hockey) and Xuejuan Luo (swimmer). The vice president of the Volkswagen Group China, Weiming Soh, also acted as a Torch bearer over a distance of several hundred metres.

In four days, the Torch will arrive in the time-honoured Panathinaikos Stadium, the site of the first Olympic Games in modern times. From there, it will travel around the world, ultimately reaching Beijing for the opening ceremony of the 29. Olympic Games on
August 8.

Volkswagen representatives and Olympic legends such as Alexey Nemov (gymnast), Nadine Ernsting (hockey) and Noureddine Morceli (track-and-field athlete) Sunday evening gathered at the Coubertin Monument in Olympia for a tree-planting ceremony ahead of the Relay. Volkswagen and the HOC have contributed 2008 trees to help reforest the area surrounding the historic site of Olympia after devastating bush fires last year destroyed vast expanses of the forest there.

Volkswagen is a main sponsor of the National Olympic Committees of China, Greece, Algeria, Ireland, Croatia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovenia and Russia.

Source: Volkswagen

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