In Olympia Greece at 2:00 am Pacific Time today the Olympic torch was lit and the official countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver has begun!
Now for those who don’t know how this process works it’s actually pretty neat. In the Temple of Hera amongst the ruins of the original Olympics the sun beats down into a mirrored bowl where the torch is held. It is actually the power of the sun (with a little help from some lighter fluid I’m sure) that bounces of this mirror and lights the flame. An actress playing a high priestess then says a prayer to Apollo the Greek god of the sun asking him to “send your rays and light the sacred torch for the hospitable City of Vancouver.” She then says a prayer to Zeus the king of the gods to “give peace to all peoples on Earth and wreath the winners of the sacred race.”
Then with the presentation of an olive branch and the release of a dove the flame is then passed to a Greek runner to start the relay. Now although this runner is wearing Vancouver 2010 Olympic gear (see video below) the flame will actually be carried by 700 Greek torch bearers before it is handed off to Canadian officials in Athens Greece at the site of the first modern Olympiad.
Now what I find a little bit funny about this is that the Greek runner is wearing all the Vancouver 2010 clothing including a touque and those famous Red Mittens… Well it was 26°c/79°f in Olympia today! I wouldn’t want to be the guy who has to wash his sweaty track suit after running in that kind of heat.
The Olympic flame touches down in Victoria BC on October 30th before it’s cross Canada tour which will be the longest torch relay in Olympic history!
Go Canada Go!
jordenf
If you enjoyed this post check out the rest I have written on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Filed under: news, vancouver2010 | Tagged: 2010, olympia greece, olympics, torch lighting ceremony, torch relay, vancouver, vancouver 2010, winter olympics
