Athens, April 21, 2016 – The Olympic flame of the Rio 2016 Games is burning in Greece, birthplace of the Olympic Movement.

Under an atmosphere of great excitement, the lighting ceremony took place today at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, during the symbolic ritual that evoked the traditions of the ancient Games held in Greece and starred 29 priests and 13 dancers.

The President of the Greek Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos and the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach attended the lighting ceremony. HOC president Spyros Capralos also welcomed many Greek and international officials – Interior Minister Panagiotis Kouroumblis, the Sports Minister, Stavros Kontonis, General Secretary of Sports, July Synadinos, Vice-Presidents of the International Olympic Committee Nawal El Moutawakel and Zaiqing Yu, Honorary IOC member Lambis Nikolaou, President of the Organizing Committee ” Rio 2016 ‘ Carlos Nuzman, President of the International Olympic Academy Isidoros Kouvelos.

Using the “skaphia” sort of concave mirror that converges the rays to a specific point, the actress Katerina Lehou in the role of high priestess, was responsible for lighting the 2016 Rio Olympic flame.
She then conveyed the flame to the first torchbearer, world champion gymnastics Lefteris Petrounias to start the torch relay for Rio. Second Torchbearer was Olympic volleyball Ziovani Gkavio who represented Brazil.

The Olympic Torch has now started its relay across Greece, which will end on April 27 at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, where the Handover Ceremony to the Rio 2016 organisers will take place. Carried in a lantern, the flame will first travel to Switzerland for ceremonies at the United Nations Palace in Geneva and Olympic Museum in Lausanne on April 29.The Flame will then fly to Brazil for the lengthy Route to Rio Maracanã Stadium.