BEIJING (Reuters) – The Olympic torch relay began its final stretch on Friday through former imperial gardens and along an ancient canal, with Chinese Olympic medallist Ding Ning among those carrying the flame along a route shortened to three days because of COVID-19. Torch-bearers on a cold sunny morning ran past the bridges, pagodas and frozen lakes of the Summer Palace, built by China’s last imperial dynasty, and later a stretch of the Grand Canal in eastern Beijing, an ancient waterway linking the capital to the south. The route taking the flame to landmarks including the Great Wall is far…