China's Olympic champion Liu Xiang will run the torch relay for the Turin Winter Olympic Games, it was announced on Thursday in Beijing.

Liu, who won the men's 110m hurdles gold in last year's Athens Olympics, will leaving for Italy on December 13. He will run the torch relay with China's first winter Olympic champion Yang Yang and two college students, Xie Weijiang from Peiking University and China Agricultural University.

"It's a great honor for me to represent China to run the torch relay for the Winter Olympics," said Liu, who ran the torch relay for the Athens Olympics last year in Beijing. "I don't know a lot about Winter Olympics, but I know both the summer and winter Games will show the Olympic spirit to the world."

Source: Xinhua