ATHENS, March 12 (Xinhua) — The Olympic Flame for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games was ignited on Thursday at a ceremony in Olympia in western Greece, the birthplace of the Games.
In the role of an ancient Greek high priestess, actress Xanthi Georgiou used a concave mirror to focus the sun’s rays and light the torch at 12:10am local time.She stood before the ruins of the 2,500-year-old temple dedicated to Greek goddess Hera, a few meters from the entrance of the ancient stadium where the Games originated 25 centuries ago, and prayed to Greek god Apollo.“Apollo, God of the sun and the idea of light, send your rays and light the sacred torch for the hospitable city of Tokyo,” she said.A few moments later, dozens of dancers playing the roles of priestesses, goddesses and male youths in pleated costumes performed on the stadium’s slope inspired by ancient Greek pottery and statues.
The flame was transported in a replica of an ancient urn inside the stadium and the high priestess kindled the first Olympic torch and passed the flame to the first torchbearer, Greek shooter Anna Korakaki.
The Olympic shooting champion had won a gold and a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and is the first woman ever to start the torch relay.
