San Francisco was selected Thursday to represent the United States when the Olympic torch makes its way around the world next year during the city-to-city relay leading up to the summer games in Beijing, the U.S. Olympic Committee said.Organizers of the international relay — which will cover 85,000 miles and five continents over 130 days — picked the city because the Bay Area has produced a lot of Olympians and has a sizable Asian-American population, said Darryl Seibel, a USOC spokesman.
"It's a city with a great Olympic heritage and also it has a unique Pacific Rim identity that is very much in keeping with the flavor of the Beijing games," Seibel said.
For now, San Francisco is expected to be the only U.S. city that will host the torch in 2008, he said.
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