Ning Li was born in 1963 in the city of Liuzhou in southern China. He won his first national gymnastics competitions at the age of... 10. In 1982, he won his first World Cup events. Two years later, at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, his moment had arrived: Ning Li won six medals, three of them gold. On 8 August 2008, the organisers of the Beijing Olympic Games gave him the great honour of selecting him as the last Olympic torchbearer -- the person with the enormous responsibility of lighting the Olympic cauldron. Everyone will always remember the image of Ning Li "flying" around the perimeter of the Bird's Nest stadium.