Olympians Picked to Be Torchbearers

Magic Johnson, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Edwin Moses and Gail Devers, Olympians all, were among those selected Wednesday as Olympic torchbearers for the flame’s around-the-world journey this summer.

They will be joined by actresses Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie and about 11,000 others as the torch makes a 46,800-mile trip across six continents, visiting each city that has played host to the Olympics, among others. The 78-day trip also includes the torch’s first appearances in South America and Africa.

The flame was lighted at Ancient Olympia, Greece, on March 25, then brought to Athens, where it will burn until June 4, when the relay begins at Sydney, Australia. The torch will be carried through city streets in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Atlanta and New York between June 16 and 19.

Among the torchbearers in Los Angeles will be Louis Zamperini, an L.A. resident who competed in the 5,000 meters during the 1936 Berlin Olympics and later served in World War II.

He was held as a prisoner of war for two years after his plane crashed in the South Pacific. Zamperini, 87, called the torch relay “an amazing example of worldwide unity.”

In London, Roger Bannister and tennis star Tim Henman are among those who will carry the torch.

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-- Elliott Teaford