The Olympic flame for the Tokyo Olympics was lit Thursday a little afternoon (local time) at the ancient Greek site of Olympia, in the absence of spectators due to the coronavirus, while Greece recorded its first death on morning. On the site of the first Olympic Games from Antiquity to Olympia, actress Xanthi Georgiou, dressed as an ancient Greek priestess, lit the flame in a traditional way, thanks to the rays of a radiant sun passing through a parabolic mirror. The flame will now be sent to Japan for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Tokyo on July 24.
For the first time since 1984, the ceremony was held without spectators, only a hundred guests had taken place, under a cloudless sky and the song of birds, in the ancient stadium, covered with daisies and other spring flowers. In 1984, the flame was lit without ceremony or bystanders. The Greek organizers intended to protest against the marketing of the Los Angeles Olympics. This time, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Hellenic Olympic Committee took drastic measures because of coronavirus, which infected 98 people in Greece and killed Thursday in a hospital in Patras, some 120 km from Olympia . "For this ceremony, we regretfully had to reduce participation to protect public health," said the president of the Greek Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos, at the opening of the ceremony.
Lighting Ceremony of the @ Tokyo2020 # Olympicshttps: //t.co/53yf8ikWcV#OlympicTorchRelay#OlympicFlame#Olympiahttps: //t.co/9l0Db3eAJS
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