At Australia's National Convention Center, dozens of Olympic torchbearers gathered for final registration following the arrival of the sacred flame of the Beijing Olympic in the Australian capital earlier in the day.
Australian swimming athlete Ian Thorpe(L1) and Qu Yingpu(L2), spokesman of the torch relay center of Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), take part in a press conference on the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch relay in Canberra, capital of Australia, April 23, 2008. Canberra is the 15th stop of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay.
Thirty-seven-year-old Nova Peris, a torchbearer, was the first indigenous Australian to win a gold medal as a member of the hockey team.
"The journey of Olympic torch is a journey of harmony. People should spread the Olympic spirit, in regardless of their race and nationalities," Nova, who competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics, told Xinhua.