Centenarian Cao Zuozheng is tiny, has no teeth and walks with a stick. But she has a passion for life and a dream - to become a torchbearer for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The 103-year-old is the first from her community in Beijing's Dongcheng District to register for the torchbearer selection program, which started on June 23.

If Cao succeeds, she could be the oldest of the 21,880 torchbearers to be selected across China and the rest of the world for the Games.