Beijing Winter Olympics: actor Jackie Chan carries Olympic torch along Great Wall

The 'Rush Hour' star joined Olympic medallists to carry the torch on its relay journey to Friday's Opening Ceremony

Actor Jackie Chan with student performers after participating in a leg of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics torch relay at the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China on February 3. Getty Images

The 'Rush Hour' actor with school children and Olympic medallists on the torch relay. Getty Images

Chan speaks to media after carrying the torch on the second day of its journey to Friday's Opening Ceremony. AFP

Chan receives a Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics torch as a souvenir after taking part in the relay. AP

Hong Kong celebrity Jackie Chan holds the 2022 Winter Olympic torch after taking part in the torch relay at the Badaling Great Wall on the outskirts of Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo / Ng Han Guan)

This part of the relay took place at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, 70 kilometres north-west of central Beijing. AFP

Chan wrapped up for the occasion, as temperatures dipped below freezing. AFP

Chan completed this section of the relay alongside table tennis Olympic gold medallist Ma Long and two-time gold medallist in taekwondo Wu Jingyu. AFP

The Olympic torch relay began its second day on Thursday at the Great Wall of China, with actor Jackie Chan and Chinese Olympic medallists among those taking turns to carry the flame along a route shortened to three days because of Covid-19.

The relay for the torch, which will open the Beijing Olympic Winter Games on Friday, is much more modest than the globe-spanning rendition for Beijing's 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Table tennis Olympic gold medallist Ma Long and Wu Jingyu, a two-time gold medallist in taekwondo, were among those carrying the red-and-silver spiral torch along the Badaling section of the Great Wall, where the Thursday morning temperature was a bracing -11°C.

Chan, 67, a Hong Kong action and comedy film star, was identified in the official press release by his Chinese name, Chen Gangsheng.

"I woke up at 4am. This is my fourth Olympics. I'm very happy. I'm also cold!," Chan told reporters after his run along the wall.

Badaling, the section of the wall most visited by tourists, is 70 kilometres north-west of central Beijing in the Yanqing District, near the Olympic sliding and Alpine skiing venues.

It was built around the year 1500, during the Ming dynasty.

Later on Thursday, the torch will be taken to Zhangjiakou in the neighbouring Hebei province, where most of the Olympic snow events will take place. The relay will end with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at Friday's Opening Ceremony.

Because of Covid-19, the Games are taking place inside a "closed loop" keeping competitors and other Olympics personnel away from the public, and will be attended only by small, selected audiences.