The Olympic flame for the 2020 Tokyo Games was lit in ancient Olympia on Thursday amid an unprecedented health lockdown as Greece registered its first death from coronavirus.
With spectators banned, an actress dressed as an ancient Greek high priestess lit the flame using the rays of the sun reflected off a concave mirror, launching a week-long torch relay in Greece before the flame is handed to Tokyo organisers on March 19.
“Today marks the beginning of the journey of the Olympic flame to Japan,” said International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach. “When the flame returns to Tokyo after 56 years, hope will light the way across the entire country,” he said. The ceremony was attended by the Secretary General of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games Μr. Iakovos Filippousis.
For the first time in history, a woman started the Olympic torch relay. Anna Korakaki, the first of some 600 runners to carry the flame in Greece, is Olympic, European and world shooting champion.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
