Olympic Flame lit in Ancient Olympia Wednesday, May 9, 2012
ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) -- The flame that will burn during
the London Games has been lit at the birthplace of the Ancient
Olympics. An actress dressed as a high priestess used a concave
mirror to focus the sun's rays and light a torch under bright
sunny skies Thursday. There was no need for the backup flame
that was used during the final rehearsal for the Olympic torch
lighting a day earlier. After the end of the choreographed
ceremony, the priestess will hand over the torch to the first
torchbearer, Greek swimmer and Olympic silver medalist Spyros
Gianniotis. He is the first in a line of 490 torchbearers to
carry the flame across 1,800 miles on Greek soil before the
flame is handed to the London Games organizers on May 17. The
Olympics will be held from July 27-Aug. 12.