Beijing 2022 flame to be lit in empty Olympia stadium
Print Edition
The Olympic flame will once again be lit in an empty stadium today as it starts its truncated journey to Beijing for the Winter Games in February.
Like the ceremony in March 2020 to light the flame for Tokyo, and like those Games, which were put back a year, today’s ceremony is a victim of coronavirus restrictions.
“Due to the situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lighting Ceremony will be held in strict compliance with local health protocols,” the Hellenic Olympic Committee announced in September.
The ceremony is conducted at the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia, the site of the ancient Greek games from the eighth century BC to the fourth century AD. Clear skies are forecast for 11:30 local time when the flame is due to be lit by the rays of the sun concentrated in a concave.
Priestess Xanthi Georgiou will light the torch from the flames.
During the lighting rehearsal yesterday, because of the cloudy sky the Priestess had to use a fire lit the previous days while all the participants weren’t wearing their ancient costumes to protect them in case of rain.
The rehearsal yesterday fell on the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee, which is holding ceremonies to celebrate.
Before the pandemic, the flame had been lit behind closed doors once, in 1984, when Greek organizers wanted to protest against the decision of the Los Angeles organizers to accept sponsorship of stretches of the torch relay in the United States.
This time the ceremony will be held in front of an audience limited to the members of the International Olympic Committee, the Greek and Chinese Olympic committees as well as the president of Greece, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and vaccinated members of the media.
Greek skier, Ioannis Antoniou, will be the first torchbearer, followed by Li Jiajun, former Chinese track speed skater, who won five Olympic medals at 1998, 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games.
“It is one of the greatest honors for an athlete to be the first torchbearer for the Olympics, especially while I’m trying to qualify and participate in those Games,” Antoniou said.
Greek Vasilis Papavassiliou will be the last torchbearer of the brief relay in Olympia, as organizers have decided to skip the usual journey around the country.
The torch would be carried to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, a second-century arena used in the 1896 and 2004 Games, and handed over to the delegation from Beijing 2022 to be flown to China.
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