Nanjing entrepreneur to carry London Olympic torch

Wang Jian, 49, a businessman from Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, will carry the London Olympic torch on July 7 in Bishop's Stortford, north of London, according to the official website of the London Olympic Games.

Wang Jian visits Cambridge University in May 2011.[Photo/english.jschina.com.cn]

Wang Jian, vice-president of Best Buy and CEO of the Nanjing-based Five Star Appliance Co, Ltd, an electronics retail chain wholly owned by Best Buy, was nominated by Samsung Group and later approved by the London Olympics organizing committee as a torch bearer.

He will participate in the 300-meter leg of the torch relay which will start on May 18 from Olympia in Greece and end in the UK 70 days later..

"It will be a shining moment in my life for me to remember," Wang Jian told English.jschina.com.cn excitedly on March 30. He told the reporter that he's been a sport lover since he was a student, a long-distance runner of his school, and even made it into a provincial youth basketball match with his school team.

As the person in charge of China's third largest home appliance retailer, Wang Jian, together with his team, has been enthusiastic about charity. His company donated 20 million yuan for rebuilding in quake-affected areas after the major earthquake in Wenchuan in 2008.

The company has also supported 200 college students from poor families nationwide with 2 million yuan since 2009. In 2010, they donated 500,000 yuan to 2,000 children to receive free palate surgeries. Wang's company also offers job and intern positions for college students from poor families.

Due to tight working schedules, Wang even did not know the exact location and date when he will be carrying the torch until the reporter told him, though he got the message that he was approved as a torch bearer.

He said it was a pity back in 2008 when he was out on a business trip and missed the opportunity to take part in the torch relay for the Beijing Olympics.

But he was pleased to learn that the route he will take bearing the torch this July is located between Cambridge and London, where he visited last May. The visit left him a profound impression of two elite universities Cambridge and Oxford, he said.

The London 2012 Organizing Committee (LOCOG) on March 19 announced the name list of 7,300 torch bearers for the London Games.