Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The Olympic Flame for the London 2012 Olympics will be lit on May 10, according to an announcement issued by the Hellenic Olympic Committee. The ceremony for the lighting of the Olympic flame will follow the traditional ritual: High Priestess Ino Menegaki will light the flame directly from the sunrays and the light will be handed to the torch bearers.
Swimming world champion Spyros Gianniotis will be the first torchbearer, with UK athlete of Greek origin Alexander Loukos following.
These will be the first of a total of 490 bearers, who will cover 2900 km and visit 40 Greek cities and five archaeological sites, in an eight-day torch relay around Greece. The flame will then arrive at the Athens Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern Olympics were hosted in 1896, and on May 17, it will be handed to the UK delegation to continue its journey to the Olympic city of London.
These will be the first of a total of 490 bearers, who will cover 2900 km and visit 40 Greek cities and five archaeological sites, in an eight-day torch relay around Greece. The flame will then arrive at the Athens Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern Olympics were hosted in 1896, and on May 17, it will be handed to the UK delegation to continue its journey to the Olympic city of London.
[Photo 1: A painting by the artist Irini Penna at the Olympic Flame art exhibition, Photo 2: Panathinaic Stadium during the Athens 1896 Olympic Games]
