The Olympic flame began its journey Wednesday to the Milan Cortina Winter Games, missing a little of its usual magic.
Bad weather lashing western Greece forced organizers to move the torch-lighting ceremony indoors, from Olympia’s ancient stadium and temples to a nearby museum.
The flame is lit by focusing the sun’s rays with a concave mirror. But with skies overcast, officials used a backup flame kindled during a brief spell of sunshine at Monday’s rehearsal.
Greek rower Petros Gaidatzis launched the torch relay, which, after reaching Italy, will be carried across the host country by about 10,000 runners before the Feb. 6-22 competition.
The sun ultimately made an appearance over rain-soaked OIympia on Wednesday during the indoor ceremony.
“It’s incredibly memorable and a little bit emotional for me to be standing here,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was overseeing her first torch lighting after being elected to the post in March. “It feels like the past and the present are really coming together. We are extremely happy that today’s ceremony reminds us what the games stand for.”
Italy is hosting its third Winter Games, but preparations have been plagued by cost overruns and construction setbacks.
Organizers say there’s plenty for fans to look forward to: a program featuring 116 medal events, the debut of ski mountaineering, higher female participation and the return of NHL players to Olympic hockey.
After a short tour of Greece and a handover on Dec. 4, the flame will begin a 63-day, 12,000-kilometer relay through all 110 Italian provinces, highlighting cultural sites and host venues before reaching Milan’s San Siro Stadium for the opening ceremony.
“Over the next few weeks, the Olympic flame will pass through all the Italian provinces, 60 cities, 300 towns, 20 regions and all the UNESCO sites. It will travel from the northern peaks to the southern shores,” 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 pausing conflicts during the games to allow safe participation.
“Today humanity is going through a time of multiple and parallel crises. Wars proliferate from Europe to the Middle East and from Asia to Africa. So we should honestly admit that a society at war is a failed society,” the mayor of Ancient Olympia, Aristidis Panayiotopoulos, said. “The flame allows us to again recall the values that guide humanity, values that were born and forged here.”
Despite moving indoors, Wednesday’s ceremony retained its traditional elements: sculptural dance gestures by performers dressed as priestesses and male kouroi, and invocations in Greek to the ancient gods.
Artemis Ignatiou, the ceremony’s artistic director, said the team had prepared for the possibility of bad weather and that, despite the setback, “we gained something special: the energy of the museum and the archaeological space itself.”
Speaking to The Associated Press, Ignatiou said dancing among the statues “gave the ceremony a timeless feeling.”
A separate flame for the March 6-15 Winter Paralympics will be lit Feb. 24 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.
