Torch ceremony will be safe - HOC

The Vancouver 2010 Olympics torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia next week will see none of the protests that tarnished the Beijing Games event two years ago, the Greek Olympic Committee (HOC) said yesterday.

Human rights activists disrupted the globally televised ceremony in the ancient Olympic stadium in southwestern Greece in 2008, triggering a chain reaction of protests which followed the Beijing torch relay on its journey before the Games.

"This will not happen this time. Greek police have a plan to make sure that everything runs smoothly," new HOC president Spyros Capralos told Reuters.

The ceremony is set for next Thursday with a brief relay in Greece before the flame flies to Canada at the end of the month.

Capralos, who took over the HOC this year, said apart from security he also saw no reason for any demonstrators to disrupt the event.

"Our Chinese friends had issues that were expressed during the ceremony and along the relay," said Capralos.

"There were human rights issues. There are no issues like that now."

Vancouver, in western Canada, will be the site of the Feb. 12-28 Olympics next year, with organisers saying some protests in the city over civil liberties and the use of what some claim is "native American land" are to be expected.

Unlike Beijing, Vancouver will only have a national relay leg with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banning future international legs by Games' hosts following the Beijing debacle.

The Winter Games torch-lighting ceremony, in which the torch is lit by the sun's rays reflected off a parabolic mirror, was long a scaled-down version of the Summer Games ceremony that was exclusively held in the ancient stadium.

No more, said Capralos, with the winter ceremony for the first time to be held in the ancient stadium as well, attended by IOC president Jacques Rogge.

"Rogge was not there for the Turin Games ceremony four years ago so his presence signifies an important turn," said Capralos, a former waterpolo player who took part in two Olympic Games.

Athens' Panathenian stadium where the torch will be handed over to the Vancouver Games officials, will be open to the public with free admission, Capralos said.