Running to expand Olympic family

To pay tribute to the Olympic spirit, a group of Chinese Olympic and world champions along with a number of running enthusiasts gathered at the Beijing Olympic Forest Park in the morning of the International Olympic Day on Friday to challenge themselves at a 6.23 km running test.

The activity marked the start of the second phase of "Paying tribute to the Olympic Spirit" themed campaign in Beijing. The first phase of the campaign started on last year's International Olympic Day on June 23 and lasted until the January 3 of this year.

This aim of the campaign is to promote the Olympic spirit and attract more people to the Olympic family ahead of the Paris Games the next summer. The online running activities of the first phase of the campaign attracted over 750,000 participants across the globe, while the official online running activities of the second phase of the campaign was launched on Tuesday, which has attracted over 130,000 runners.

To support the "Paying tribute to the Olympic Spirit" campaign, Thomas Bach, International Olympic Committee president, wrote a foreword for a special issue of the Civilization Magazine, a co-organizer and promoter of the campaign.

"Sport brings people together in peaceful competition. Few other areas have the power to foster peace and understanding among humans as sport," wrote Bach.

"The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will mark the beginning of a new era in this respect: Olympic Games inspired by Olympic Agenda from start to finish. They will be more inclusive, more youthful, more urban, more sustainable and the very first Olympic Games with full gender parity.

"My thanks and gratitude go to Civilization Magazine for once again highlighting our timeless Olympic peace mission. With the publication of "The Olympic Manifesto - The Beautiful Olympic Cultural Scroll IV", you are ensuring that the Olympic spirit continues to spread throughout China and the world."