103-year old Woman Seeks to Carry Olympic Torch

Filed in archive Olympics on August 27, 2007

Who says your life is over when you grow older? Cao Zuosheng is living proof that you can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it. At the tender age of 103, Zuosheng is volunteering to carry the Olympic torch for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She's even training twice a day to get physically fit for the challenge.

"I am in good health. I can go wherever the Games organizers wish. And I have no problem holding the torch high," Cao told the paper.

In hopes of winning a cameo role in the 85,000-mile relay, which includes a trip to the top of Mount Everest, Cao was walking 300 meters twice a day with a stick, and insisted on washing her hair with cold water, "which she believes keeps her healthy," China Daily said.

"She frequently lifts her hand above her head as if holding a torch and 'really enjoys doing it'," the paper quoted Cao's youngest daughter as saying.

Cao is one of nearly 22,000 Chinese people vying for a leg of the relay, the paper said.

Last month, Yu Zhenhuan, one of the world's hairiest men, launched his campaign to carry the torch, rating himself worthy as a "celebrity" and a model for coping with disfigurement.

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