ANCIENT OLYMPIA, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - The Olympic flame for the XXI Olympic Winter Games, to take place in Vancouver on February 12-28, was lit in Greece's ancient stadium of Olympia on Thursday.
Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou, playing the role of a high priestess, lit the flame using a concave mirror and the rays of the sun at Olympia's Temple of Hera.
She then handed the Olympic torch over to the first torchbearer in the Olympic relay, the Greek giant slalom skiing champion, Vassilis Dimitriadis.
After a seven-day journey in Greece, the torch will head to Canada for the start of the longest domestic relay in Olympic history, set to last for three-and-a-half months and to cover some 45,000 km (28,000 miles).
"Today we create a bridge between ancient Olympia and a young Canada," John Furlong, the chief organizer of the 2010 Winter Olympics, said at the ceremony.
By the start of the Games on February 12, the Olympic torch "will have visited 1,030 Canadian communities, received 119 aboriginal blessings, touched three oceans, and been held high by a mosaic of Canadian people representing the ages, cultures, religions and languages," he said.
Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said: "The longest national Olympic torch relay in history will create a spirit of global community and world citizenship."
