Olympics flame to be lit in its Greek birthplace

Nearly 100 days before the 2024 Paris Games open, the Olympic flame will be lit in ancient Olympia today for a torch relay stretching from the Acropolis to French Polynesia.For the first time since events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 Beijing Winter Games had to be toned down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, spectators will be able to attend the torch relay events.Some 600 dignitaries are expected at the ceremony today, headed by Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.The ritual will see actresses in the role of ancient priestesses coaxing the Olympic flame into life with the help of a parabolic polished mirror in Olympia, southwestern Greece, where the Games were born in 776 BC.American mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato is to deliver the Olympic anthem.The ceremony is conducted at the ruins of the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, and sets off the Olympic torch relay that marks the countdown for each Games.Cloudy skies are forecast for today, but the flame was successfully lit in a rehearsal on Monday, a backup that can be used if necessary during the official ceremony.The torch harks back to the ancient Olympics, when a sacred flame burned throughout the Games. The tradition was revived in 1936 for the Berlin Games.The first relay runner will be Greece’s 2020 Olympics rowing champion Stefanos Ntouskos.The Hellenic Olympic Committee confirmed on Monday that retired French swimmer Laure Manaudou, who won her first gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, will follow Ntouskos as France’s first torchbearer in Olympia. European Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas will follow as the third torchbearer, the HOC said.During the 11-day relay on Greek soil, some 600 torchbearers will carry the flame over a distance of 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles) through 41 municipalities."We had prepared this programme for the Tokyo Olympics, but the pandemic did not allow us to carry it out,” Thanassis Vassiliadis, head of the Hellenic Olympic Committee’s torch relay committee, told Kathimerini daily last week.He added that security levels at the flame-lighting ceremony will be "the highest” possible with police "discreet but present everywhere.”