Bad weather in western Greece forced organizers to move the torch lighting ceremony from Olympia’s ancient stadium and temples to a nearby museum.
The flame is lit by focusing the sun’s rays through a concave mirror. But due to overcast skies, officials used a backup flame lit during a brief sunny spell during Monday’s rehearsal.
Greek rower Petros Gaidatzis launched the torch relay, which, after reaching Italy, will be carried by about 10,000 runners to the host country ahead of the February 6-22 competition.
The sun finally appeared over rain-soaked Oympia during the indoor ceremony on Wednesday.
“Standing here is incredibly memorable and a little emotional for me,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was overseeing the lighting of the torch for the first time since being elected to the post in March. “It feels as if the past and present are truly coming together. We are extremely pleased that today’s ceremony reminds us what sports means.”
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After a brief tour of Greece and handover on 4 December, the flame will be lit Start the 63-day, 12,000-kilometre relay The event traveled through all 110 Italian provinces, highlighting cultural sites and host venues before arriving at Milan’s San Siro stadium for the opening ceremony.
“Over the next few weeks, the Olympic flame will pass through all Italian provinces, 60 cities, 300 towns, 20 regions and all UNESCO sites. It will travel from the northern peaks to the southern coasts,” said Giovanni Malago, head of the Milan Cortina organizing committee. Speakers at Wednesday’s ceremony urged world leaders to recognize the spirit of the Olympic truce – an ancient Greek tradition that stops conflicts during the Games to allow safe participation.
“Today humanity is going through multiple and parallel crises. Wars are spreading from Europe to the Middle East and from Asia to Africa. We must therefore honestly admit that a war-torn society is a failed society,” said Aristidis Panayiotopoulos, mayor of Ancient Olympia. “The flame allows us to remember again the values that guide humanity, the values that were born and forged here.”
Despite being moved indoors, Wednesday’s ceremony retained its traditional elements: sculptural dance gestures by performers dressed as priests and male kouroi, and invocations in Greek to the ancient gods.
The festival’s artistic director, Artemis Ignatiou, said that the team had prepared for the possibility of bad weather and that despite the setback, “we found something special: the energy of the museum and the archaeological space.”
Speaking to The Associated Press, Ignatiou said that dancing among the statues “gave the ceremony a timeless feel.”
A separate flame for the March 6-15 Winter Paralympics will be lit on February 24 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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