GREECE: OLYMPICS: Olympic torch-lighting rehearsal goes like a dream

Record ID: 330695

  • Title: GREECE: OLYMPICS: Olympic torch-lighting rehearsal goes like a dream
  • Date: 10th May 2012
  • Summary: PRIESTESS WALKING WITH URN VARIOUS OF PRIESTESS WITH URN PEOPLE WATCHING VARIOUS OF HIGH PRIESTESS SAYING ENCANTATION TO GOD APOLLO PRIESTESS WALKING TO CAULDRON AND LIGHTING TORCH PRIESTESS LIGHTING URN CLOSE OF URN CLOSE OF PRIESTESS HOLDING UP TORCH CROWD WATCHING VARIOUS PRIESTESS PERFORMING DANCE VARIOUS OF MALE PERFORMERS DANCING PERFORMERS TAKING THEIR PLACE PRIESTESS WALKING WITH LIT URN BOY HOLDING OLIVE BRANCH PRIESTESS PLACING LIT URN ON THE FLOOR CLOSE OF URN/ TORCH NEXT TO IT VARIOUS OF PRIESTESS RECITING ENCANTATION VARIOUS OF PRIESTESS LIGHTING TORCH WITH FLAME FROM THE URN HIGH PRIESTESS HOLDING UP TORCH PRIESTESS REACHING OVER AND LIGHTING OLYMPIC TORCH HELD BY GREEK OLYMPIC SWIMMER SPYROS GIANNIOTIS VARIOUS OF GIANNIOTIS HOLDING UP OLYMPIC TORCH AND OLIVE BRTANCH PEOPLE WATCHING CEREMONY GIANNIOTIS POSING FOR MEDIA GIANNIOTIS SPEAKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREEK OLYMPIC SWIMMER SPYROS GIANNIOTIS SAYING: "It was good. It was really nice. Tomorrow is a really important day for me and for my whole career. Something that I feels it's , eh, it's my last Olympics and I'm half English so it's something unique for me, and I'm shaking now. So I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. So I'm waiting for tomorrow. It's going to be very very important for me. For my whole career." CLOSE OF GIANNIOTIS' FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARY, 21, TOURIST FROM CRETE SAYING: "I think the ceremony was perfect. I like Ancient Olympia. And I'm happy to be here." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) GREEK TOURIST VANGELIS SAYING: "This ceremony is very unique. Is very unique celebration that is happening here today. Of course It was only the rehearsal and we will wait to see the real ceremony tomorrow." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHEELA TOURIST FROM MANCESTER SAYING: "I thought it was really impressive. It was very beautiful. And very powerful." PEOPLE WALKING NEAR TEMPLE OF HERA
  • Embargoed: 25th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAYZKNZPGGPZQSO9USHDWPG06X
  • Story Text: Priestesses in pleated robes swayed under a scorching sun at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics on Wednesday (May 9) in the final rehearsal to light the flame that will burn at the London Games.
    Far from the political drama embroiling debt-stricken Greece, locals and foreign tourists gathered at the ruins of the Doric temple to goddess Hera to watch as Greek actress Ino Menegaki solemnly stooped to light the torch with a concave mirror.
    The flame will serve as a backup if overcast skies loom over Thursday's official ceremony, but weather forecasts predict the event will be similarly blessed by abundant sunshine. For the first time, male priests danced to the sound of a drum amid the temple's ancient ruins instead of limiting the choreography to the adjacent stadium, organisers said.
    With her arms raised towards the sky, Menegaki - playing the role of high priestess - then invoked the sun God Apollo in prayer before kneeling to light the torch in just a few seconds as the sun's rays focused on the parabolic mirror.
    On the slopes of the adjacent stadium where Greeks competed during the ancient games, priestesses swirled in a dance inspired by the mythological nymphs - nubile, young maidens in the retinue of a god or goddess - while the male priests performed a version of an ancient war dance, minus the weapons.
    For many Greeks watching, the ceremony was an emotional moment, offering a reminder of the glorious past of a nation now mired in a deep political and economic crisis.
    Mary, a visitor from Crete, said: "I think the ceremony was perfect. I like Ancient Olympia. And I'm happy to be here."
    Another spectator Vangelis added: "This ceremony is very unique. Is very unique celebration that is happening here today. Of course It was only the rehearsal and we will wait to see the real ceremony tomorrow."
    The rehearsal ended with the high priestess handing the flame and a fresh olive branch to the first torchbearer Spyros Gianniotis, a Liverpool-born Greek swimmer who won the gold medal in the 10 km open water event at the 2011 world championships.
    On Thursday, Gianniotis, who has a Greek father and a British mother, will run with the flame to the monument where the heart of modern Olympics founder Pierre de Coubertin is buried before continuing and handing the flame over to Alexander Loukos, a Briton of Greek origin.
    Gianniotis agreed it was a very special moment. " It's my last Olympics and I'm half English so it's something unique for me, and I'm shaking now. So I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. So I'm waiting for tomorrow. It's going to be very very important for me. For my whole career."
    The flame then covers 2900 km across over 40 towns in Greece, including remote ones near the Turkish border and tiny islands in the hands of 490 torchbearers. It will also pass through five archaeological sites during its eight-day journey across Greece before it is flown to the United Kingdom for a tour before the Olympic Games start on July 27.
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