CRETE ISLAND, 21 July 2004 — The first Saudi to carry the Olympic Torch is Adnan Matbouli, director general of the Jeddah-based United Matbouli Group. He took part in the First Olympic Torch Relay during its recent Crete Island relay.
Adnan’s participation followed an invitation to him from SAMSUNG Electronics. Adnan was among 225 of Samsung’s “most distinguished” distributors worldwide invited to be torchbearers during the Crete Relay. They took part with Olympic Athletes and personalities from around the globe who carried the Torch throughout its global relay.
Major Distributors invited were from Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Panama, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Hungary, Portugal, Poland, Canada, Korea, Japan, Spain and Kenya to participate in the four-day event.
The Olympic Torch traveled through a total of 27 countries and 34 cities, including all previous host cities of the Olympic Games as well as cities in continents, which the Olympic flame has never visited. The torch will return to the Olympic Stadium in Athens,
Greece on August 13. A total of 260 million people will have the opportunity to see the flame in their city.
“Our relation with the Matbouli family is based on strong commercial ties that started more than 20 years ago. Sharing the experience of carrying the Olympic Torch with one of our most distinguished distributor is just a gesture of gratitude and appreciation for the role he plays,” said Salim Majzoub, marketing and communication Manager of Samsung Electronics.
