The relay officially began on May 8 with Bill Thorpe, Jr., grandson of Jim Thorpe, and Gina Hemphill, granddaughter of Jesse Owens, being given the honor of becoming the first torchbearers. The relay featured 3,636 torchbearers and spanned a distance of around 15,000 kilometres (9,300 mi), at the time the longest distance of any Olympic relay.[4]