INQUIRER Sports

LANZHOU, China -- Six foreigners who carried the Olympic torch Monday have brought gifts and friendship to a small rural school here.

Youngsters at Daheng Primary School, around 100 kilometers north of the provincial capital, greeted the six with drum dances and singing last Friday.

The foreign torchbearers were selected last November by Olympic sponsor Lenovo and China Daily through an online campaign.

Deirdre Smyth from Venezuela, sang a folk song from her country and played the cuatro, a musical instrument similar to the guitar.

"We want to share our happiness at becoming the Olympic torchbearers with you. All of us dreamt of becoming torchbearers. We persevered and we succeeded," said the 43-year-old mother of four and breast cancer survivor.

Before the visit, Smyth organized several fundraising events in her community and bought sports equipment for the school. She also worked with the China Breast Cancer Organization to raise funds for victims of the May 12 earthquake.

Marco Antonio Torres from the Philippines arrived a day earlier to make preparations for the visit. He and his colleagues bought schoolbags for every child and he also brought an oil painting by a famous Filipino artist to the school.

"Kids are the future. I am so happy to help them and encourage them," said the marketing manager of a Beijing design company.

Yury Ilyakhin from Russia brought his wife and daughter on the trip. The family sang the famous Russian folk song Katyusha to celebrate the friendship between the two countries.

"The smiling faces of these kids have brought me so much happiness. Let's celebrate the coming Olympic Games together," said the 53-year-old owner of an IT company.

Meena Barot from India remarked on the remoteness of the school and pointed to the similarities with her own childhood.

"I also grew up in the countryside, but I worked hard to improve my life. Every student here should have a dream and work hard to make their name one day," said the business manager of an Indian pharmaceutical company.

German railway engineer Werner Ebel introduced German games to the children and encouraged them to study hard. He came to China in 2006 to work on a high-speed railway project in Zhengzhou, Henan province.

Yoshitoshi Mizuya invited a dozen of his friends and colleagues to celebrate his run in Lanzhou.

The president of a Beijing-based computer company is a sports enthusiast.

He participated in both the Beijing Marathon and the Xi'an City Wall Marathon, where he won first place among the foreign runners. China Daily-ANN