London Olympics: lighting the Olympic flame in Greece

Thursday lit the Olympic torch on Mount Olympus the birthplace of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, in preparation for the start of the Olympic Games in July 27 in the British capital of London.

And witnessed the ceremony of lighting the torch of the International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge and the President of the Organizing Committee for the Games to London, Sebastian Coe and many of the officials of the International Olympic Committee officials and British and Greek.

And the representative of the major role of the Priestess Inoue Manegaki, where the Olympic flame was lit symbolically through the "sun" and then handed over to the first bearer Greek Spyros Aaniotis world champion in swimming.

Said James Pearce BBC's The torch went out for a short time while she was moved from the temple to the stadium, but the rest of the occasion passed without problems.

The torch will be handed to the then British boxer Alexander Okos (19 years), the son of Greek immigrants.

Seventieth day

The torch continues journey in Greece for a week-long visit during which five major archaeological sites including the Acropolis, before it reached on May 17 / May of this to the old Olympic Stadium in Athens, where was held the first round of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.

After that, the torch will be handed to the British delegation after the ceremony to the following.

And will be the last carriers of the torch in Greece, Greek weightlifter Pyrrhus Dimas and Chinese gymnast Li Ning, who was the last bearer of the Olympic torch in Beijing
2008, where he Aaigadha in the stadium "Bird's Nest" on 8 August / August at the opening ceremony.

On May 19 the current torch begins its journey in the British territory of South West England.

The journey takes the torch in Britain, cut off 70 days during which 12 875 km until you reach the opening ceremony, scheduled on July 27 in London.

And remain lighted torch over the days of competition, as was the case in the older games in Olympia, a tradition revived in 1936 during the Olympic Games in Berlin.