2006 Turin Winter Olympics
Organisers were forced to use a back-up flame in the torch-lighting ceremony for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics on an overcast Sunday. Greek sun god Apollo did not hear the prayers of high priestess Theodora Siarkou, an actress, who had to light the...
Organisers were forced to use a back-up flame in the torch-lighting ceremony for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics on an overcast Sunday. Greek sun god Apollo did not hear the prayers of high priestess Theodora Siarkou, an actress, who had to light the torch from a replica ancient pot which contained the flame from Saturday's dress rehearsal, instead of using the concave steel mirror to focus the sun's rays. The ceremony in the temple of Hera, a few metres away from the stadium that hosted the ancient Olympics 25 centuries ago, marked the start of the torch relay that will pass through Greece and Italy before lighting the Games cauldron in Turin on February 10. In front of a small crowd of officials in the cypress-ringed site where the heart of the modern Games founder Pierre De Coubertin is buried, Greek polevaulter Costas Filippidis lifted the torch and an olive branch and started his short run as the first of the 534 runners who will cover 2,006km across Greece.