Tan Haimei, became the youngest Olympic Torchbearer yesterday. After being abandoned by her Mother six months after her birth, her father lost his left arm during a work accident, leaving Tan to live with her Grandparents.
In 2006 Tan won national fame as one of the "Persons Who Move Us The Most" together with Yang Liwei and NBA All-Star Yao Ming.
When Tan started a new school, she discovered that many of her classmates had come from families whose parents left them with elders. Tan said she "...in fact shared the lonliness and often the helplessness" of other children without parents.
Tan soon started 'Team for Left Behind Children' saying, "...if we get together to help each other we won't be lonely anymore" the project aimed to bring left behind children together for mutual assistance and community volunteer efforts.
Persistence has paid off, Tan's 'Team for Left Behind Children' has grown from her own class, to the entire school, then across the city and province to the entire country.
Asian Games 100 Meters Hurdles Champion Liu Jing and 19 other Olympic athletes were in Sichuan Province when the devastating Earthquake struck, all survived unharmed. Liu a native of Sichuan Province, had been training in the area when the Earthquake struck. Some of the athletes did lose family members in the disaster.
Sporting infrastructure was destroyed during the 7.9 magnitude earthquake, a newly built gymnasium, a swimming pool and sports stadium were lost during the quake.
More here about the Olympic Athletes that survived the Sichuan Earthquake and news from Women in the Beijing Olympic Games
