ST. PETERSBURG -- The Olympic torch relay starts on Saturday morning in St. Petersburg for the third leg of its global journey.

The relay kicked off at about a quater to 11 am local time. After a brief ceremony on the Victory Square, Galina Zybina, Russia's shot put gold medalist at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, became the first person to bear the torch.

After 250 meters, she handed the flame over to Leonid Tyagachyov, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee, who ran another 250 meters.

The torch race will end at the Palace Square at 3 pm (1100 GMT) on the South of the Hermitage museum when a show is carried out to celebrate the journey. A short break will be made near the St. Isaac's Cathedral.

In all, the torch will be carried by 80 people, among them famous athletes, cultural and business figures and politicians, covering a distance of about 20 kms.

The stop in St. Petersburg is the third in the Olympic torch relay outside China, and it has already been in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 2 and Turkey's Istanbul on April 3. It will go on Saturday from St. Petersburg to London, the capital of Britain.