Winter Olympics torch relay

The torch for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was lit in ancient Olympia in a traditional ceremony on Tuesday, marking the final stretch of the seven-year preparations for the Games' start on July 26.

The Olympic torch handover ceremony in Greece on March 19 will be held without children due to the novel coronavirus, as will the arrival ceremony in Japan on March 20, Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said on Friday.

Next week's flame-lighting ceremony for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will go ahead in Greece despite concerns about the virus outbreak.
The Greek Olympic committee says it is working closely with national health authorities and will hold meetings to re-evaluate the situation every two days.

Greek singer Sakis Rouvas wears the uniform of the torch relay runners as he holds the torch of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games during a presentation of the torch relay within Greece, in Athens, Monday. The Olympic flame lighting ceremony will be held on Thursday, March 12, and will burn at the July 24 - Aug. 9 Tokyo 2020 Olympics. [AP]

Greek organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic flame lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia next month said on Monday they have taken extra measures to avoid the coronavirus' spread during the torch's months-long relay.

Greek Olympic and world champion Anna Korakaki will run the first part of the relay following the torch-lighting ceremony for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and will also be the first woman to hold that honor. The 23-year-old shooter will receive the Olympic flame from the High Priestess in a ceremony to be held on March 12 at Ancient Olympia. [Reuters]

Greek actress Katerina Lechou, in the role of the High Priestess, lights a torch with the Olympic flame during the handover ceremony of the Olympic flame at the Panathenaic Stadium, in Athens, Tuesday. The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics will be held from 9 until 25 February 2018. [Reuters]

Champions League winner Park Ji-sung will be the first South Korean to carry the flame for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics after the torch lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia next week, the Hellenic Olympic Committee said on Thursday.

The flame for the Olympic Games in Brazil has been lit in southern Greece. An actor performing the role of high priestess lit the torch by using the sun’s rays. The torch will be taken by various runners on an international relay that will culminate at the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro on 5 August. The ritual was established 80 years ago for the Berlin Game