Posted on 03/25/2004 7:32:12 PM PST by longtermmemmory
Greece Holds Olympic Flame Lighting Thu Mar 25,11:54 AM ET
By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press Writer
ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece - The flame that will burn at the Athens Games was lit Thursday amid the ruins of the ancient sanctuary where the Olympics were born 2,780 years ago.
AP Photo
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In a ceremony held at an altar to Hera, a Greek goddess worshipped in Olympia during the original games, the torch was lit by a Greek actress playing the role of a high priestess.
Thalia Prokopiou, one of two dozen women who participated in the ceremony, placed a silver torch inside a burnished-steel concave mirror for the sun's rays to ignite.
"Today the Olympic flame will be reborn yet again to enfold the whole world in its light. This is the day that all of us have been waiting for so eagerly," Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, president of the Athens organizing committee said.
During the ceremony, Prokopiou intoned a prayer to the ancient Greek god Apollo for the sun to shine.
"Apollo, god of the sun and the idea of light, send your rays and light the sacred torch for the hospitable city of Athens," she said.
Earlier, clouds had threatened the lighting as thousands of people gathered in the ancient birthplace of the Olympics to watch the ceremony.
The Olympics were born in Olympia in 776 B.C. and held every four years until the Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished them in the year 393 after Christianity took root and he deemed the games pagan.
They were revived in Athens in 1896 by a group led by a French baron, Pierre de Coubertin.
"The Olympic Games (news - web sites) are returning to their country of origin for the second time in the modern era. It was in Olympia that everything began and today that everything is going to begin for Athens 2004," International Olympic Committee (news - web sites) President Jacques Rogge said.
"Whether we live in a rich or disadvantaged country, the flame will unite us all," Rogge said.
Prokopiou's flame lit the torch of Greek javelin champion Costas Gatzioudis, the first bearer in an unprecedented global relay that will carry the flame around the world.
The journey will include its first trips to South America and Africa. The torch will be in the United States from June 16-19, stopping in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Atlanta and New York.
More than 11,000 torchbearers will carry the flame inside Greece and around the world. More than 3,600 will take part in the international portion of its journey, which includes 27 countries and covers a total of about 48,500 miles.
From Ancient Olympia, the flame will make a seven-day trip through southern Greece and will burn outside the marble Panathenian stadium, site of the first modern games, until June 4. It will then travel to Australia.
"It's the most interesting, most fantastic torch relay which was ever organized," said Denis Oswald, the IOC official in charge of preparations for the Aug. 13-29 games.
He said organizers decided to extend the Olympic torch relay because the distance from Athens to Olympia about 200 miles was too short.
Thousands of people gathered to watch the ceremony, most walking for miles because of tight security. The flame lighting and torch relay are being used to test some of the security measures that will be enforced during the Aug. 13-29 games.
Greece has budgeted a record more than $800 million for security and for the first time in the history of the flame lighting spectators were forced to go through metal detectors.
The ceremony was held amid continued international concerns about security and urgent delays facing key construction projects, including work at the main Olympic stadium and classic marathon route. Rogge and Oswald are to discuss the problems during their visit.
Rogge reminded organizers that only 141 days remain before the games begin.
"More than ever before, Athens and Greece will be the focus of attention for the whole world. Athens 2004 is really entering the home straight," Rogge said during the ceremony.
A number of Olympic champions will carry the torch on the Greek part of the relay, including Russian swimming champion Alexander Popov and Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergei Bubka.
"This is my first time. It's right in Greece at the heart of the Olympic Games, the Olympic movement. It's very honorable for me, very, very honorable," Popov said.
Greek actress Thalia Prokopiou (R), dressed in a white robe as the high-priestess, gives the Olympic Flame to a priestess lit using the sun's rays in a parabolic mirror during the traditional Olympic lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia March 25, 2004. The Olympic Torch Relay started its trip around the globe, to last 78 days and more than 78,000 km before the beginning of the Games in Athens on August 13. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
A Greek actress playing the role of a priestess releases a dove after the lighting of the Olympic flame in a steel concave mirror near the Temple of Hera in Ancient Olympia where the Olympics were born in 776 B.C. on Thursday, March 25, 2004. The flame will burn at the Aug. 13-29 Athens Games. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Greek actress Thalia Prokopiou, playing the role of a high priestess, lights the Olympic flame in a steel concave mirror near the Temple of Hera in Ancient Olympia where the Olympics were born in 776 B.C. on Thursday. (AP/Dimitri Messinis)
Greek actress Thalia Prokopiou, dressed in a white robe as the high-priestess, prays to God Apollo to send the sun rays to light the Olympic Flame in the ruins of the ancient Temple of Hera during the traditional Olympic lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia March 25, 2004. The Olympic Torch Relay started its trip around the globe, to last 78 days and more than 78,000 km before the beginning of the Games in Athens on August 13. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
Greek actresses, dressed in white robes as priestesses, carry the Olympic Flame into the stadium after it was lit by the sun's rays in a parabolic mirror during the traditional Olympic lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia March 25, 2004. The Olympic Torch Relay started its trip around the globe, to last 78 days and more than 78,000 km before the beginning of the Games in Athens on August 13. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
Greek actress Thalia Prokopiou, 2nd right, playing the role of a high priestess, walks with the Olympic torch raised after giving the flame to another priestess who carries it to the ancient stadium shortly after the Olympic flame was lit in a steel concave mirror near the Temple of Hera in Ancient Olympia where the Olympics were born in 776 B.C. on Thursday, March 25, 2004. The flame will burn at the Aug. 13-29 Athens Games. (AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis)
Greek actress Thalia Prokopiou, dressed in a white robe as the high-priestess, carries the Olympic Flame into the ancient stadium during a dress rehearsal at the traditional Olympic lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia March 24, 2004. On Thursday March 25 the official lighting ceremony will mark the start of the Olympic Torch Relay and will be the first to travel the globe in 78 days and more than 78,000 km before the beginning of the Games on August 13. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
Sad to think the original olympic ideal was to set down
arms for a brief time for sporting events.
Must be a western civilization thing.
Workers assemble the Olympic rings at the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, Saturday, March 20 , 2004. The Olympic flame will be lit in the town of ancient Olympia, southwestern Greece, on March 25 and be brought to Panathinaiko stadium, where the first Olympics where held. It will be burn at the stadium until June 4, when it starts a global journey across six continents 27 countries and 33 cities. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
(note: first modern Olympics were held.)
At least that what they taught us in gov't skool
I would think they'll go through a few more cities than that. They'll probably have special ceremonies in those 33 cities.
Unless they mapped out the trip on Mapquest and chose the "avoid cities" option.
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