2000: The torch-lighting ceremony for the Sydney Olympics comes under fire for switching the first handover from a Greek-Australian girl to the 11-year old daughter of an International Olympic Committee member. 2006: Protests in Italy force torch bearers for Turin's Winter Olympics to change route four times during a two-month trip across Italy.
Protesters voice opposition to US corporate giant Coca Cola's sponsorship of the Games, US First Lady Laura Bush's related visit and the construction of a high-speed railway from Turin to France. Sept 2007: Taiwan says torch will not come to the island, after months of talks with Beijing. Taiwan, a self-ruled island China claims as its own, was to be the stop before Hong Kong on the 137,000-km (85,000 mile) route Beijing unveiled in April 2007.
Taiwanese Olympic officials called China's linking of the island to Hong Kong an attempt to promote its view that China and Taiwan are united. March 2008: Human rights protesters try to disrupt the torch-lighting ceremony in Greece on March 24. Exiled Tibetans pledge to demonstrate against a security crackdown in Tibet and parts of western China after a wave of anti-government protests.
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