If you are not the torch is! Tonight at 5.46:35 pm Beijing time the Olympic flame was lit in a ceremony at Olympia, Greece. The power of the sun was harnessed and lit the flame to begin the long journey to Beijing where the Olympics will take place in August 2008.
In what I must say was the most boring ceremony I have seen in a while the flame was first lit using a silver torch. It was then transferred to a candle like object and carried to a location in front of the many guests that looked on. It was now that they almost had me falling asleep as around 6 guys dressed in traditional Greek clothing danced around in slow motion.
Then followed some women dancing in slow motion. I was just wanting to see the original flame light up the Beijing torch however I was made to wait while something as boring as watching grass grow was displayed. 36 minutes after the first flame was lit from the rays of the sun the Beijing torch was finally lit.
The High Priestess, actress Maria Nafpliotou kindled a torch held by Greece’s Olympic silver medalist for taekwondo Alexandros Nikolaidis. This moment marked the first time that a Beijing Olympic torchbearer held the flame. After some time Nikolaidis made his was to the Coubertin monument where he paused for several minutes before starting a run with the flame.
The second torchbearer was China’s Luo Xuejuan. Luo was the 100m breastroke gold medalist at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and has since retired from competitive swimming. Luo was last night featured on Chinese television.
The Olympic Flame will spend the next six days being carried around Greece before it makes its way to Beijing on March 31. After a day in Beijing it heads to Almaty followed by Istanbul, St. Peterburg, London, Paris, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Dar es Salaam, Muscat, Islamabad, New Delhi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Canberra, Nagano, Macao and returns to China on May 4.
I look forward to the visit to Canberra as that is where I will join the torch relay. In August 2008 I very much look forward to my vacation to Beijing with my family which will take in the 2008 Olympic Games.
The official torch relay site is http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn
