OLIMPIA (GRECIA) (ITALPRESS) – The journey of the torch of Milan-Cortina 2026 can begin. In the Archaeological Museum of Olimpia – the location chosen as an alternative to the traditional temple of Hera due to the adverse weather conditions – the Olympic flame of the next Winter Olympics has been lit. The ceremony therefore gives way to a relay in the Hellenic territory of the duration of nine days, which will cross about 2,200 km touching seven regions of Greece, with 36 welcome ceremonies planned along the route.
There will be over 450 tedophorae that will take part in this first phase of the journey of the flame, which will end in Hellenic land on 4 December in Athens, with the delivery to the Panatenaic Stadium, where a delegation of the Organizing Committee of Milan Cortina 2026 will officially receive the Olympic flame and then take it to Italy on the same day. The flame will arrive in Rome in the late afternoon – will be received at the Quirinale by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella – and the next day, on December 5 at 11, there will be the inauguration ceremony of the trip of the torch. A journey that will last 63 days, with 60 stops 12,000 km long, crossing 110 provinces and over 300 municipalities. The route will end on the evening of 6 February 2026 in Milan, with the opening ceremony at the San Siro Stadium. Here will light the spotlight on the fourth Olympic edition ever hosted in Italy, after Cortina 1956, Rome 1960 and Turin 2006.
The flame was entrusted to the first Petros Gkaidatzis tedophorus, bronze canopy in the two light weight couple in Paris 2024, which after a first short solo tract was flanked by Stefania Belmondo, a ten Olympic medalist.
COVENTRY SI COMMUOVE “GIOCHI UN SIMBOLO IN MONDO DIVISO”
“These games occur at a particular time, I should not have cried but this place is special.” A moving Kirsty Coventry, president of Cio, said that during the ceremony. “In a divided world, like what we live in, the Games are a symbolic moment and it is our duty and our responsibility to ensure that athletes from all over the world can come peacefully, inspiring the hopes and dreams of those who follow us in the world. This is the Olympic spirit: raising the values that guide us,” he explained.
MALAGÒ “VIAGGIO TORCIA CI RICORDERÀ COME SPORT ABBATTE BARRIERE”
“The idea is to create new opportunities for new generations through sport. It will be a privilege to bring this torch again along the banks of the river Tiber and take it to Rome by retracing the same road twenty years ago on the occasion of the Turin Games. Each step will remind us of the importance of sport in breaking barriers and creating a more sustainable future together.” Thus the president of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, Giovanni Malagò during the ceremony. “We start the journey of the torch to Milan Cortina and celebrate the same idea of harmony that will unite the whole world together in just 72 days. The ceremony to which we will attend, the passage of the torch, constitutes a bridge between antiquity and was modern,” he added.
– Photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
