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The Flame of Hope torch was lit in Athens

09 June 2011 / 20:06:02  GRReporter
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Anastasia Balezdrova

Seven years after the games in 2004 Athens again became an Olympic city. 16 days before the start of the games for people with mental disabilities, Special Olympics, the Flame of Hope torch was lit on the Pnika hill, where the ancient assembly met.

During the ceremony, which did not differ at all from the traditional lighting of the Olympic flame in Ancient Olympia, the Greek national team Special Olympics was presented. In her speech, the president of Special Olympics Hellas and the Organising Committee of the Games Yana Despotopoulou stressed the importance and symbolism of the day when "a worldwide movement of modern humanity meets the source of the ancient Greek Olympic spirit, to lift an eternal request: That of respect for the man, whoever the man is, no matter how different he looks from the others."

The President of the International Commission Special Olympics Timothy Shriver said in Greek, that he "will participate" and began his speech with the slogan of the Games. He expressed his belief that "the flame of the games will put a new beginning for Greece, which is facing so many problems."

The priestesses of the fire, who were athletes of the Greek team of Special Olympics, dancers from the Lyceum of the Greek women and the School of the choreographer Fokas Evangelinos emerged as from ancient myth.

At 11:40 the high priestess Iliana Symeonidou, a rhythmic gymnastics athlete, put the torch in the special reflector. Minutes later, the rays of the sun god Apollo - the symbol of the games -lit the Flame of Hope torch. The main priestess gave the torch to Yana Despotopoulou, who, in turn, gave it to the first athletes and their companions, who started the relay-race.

Today, the relay-race passed through Athens and its ancient history sites. The enthusiastic participants ran the route from Pnika hill to Zapio, they passed in front of the Herodians theatre, the museum of the Acropolis and the Greek Parliament. It will be guarded in Zapio at night and it will set off on three routes in the morning.

The first rout will go through the whole eastern part of mainland Greece and the Sporades. The Flame of Hope torch will go through a total of 40 cities, it will cross the country's eastern border with Turkey and ten days before the start of the Games will arrive in Istanbul - the city-crossroads between Europe and Asia, where dozens of festive events will be held.

The participants in the second relay-race will go through the Peloponnese, western mainland Greece and the islands in the Ionian Sea, visiting 64 cities within 13 days.

The third route will go through Cyprus, where the relay-race will be held within two days. Then, the torch will go through 30 cities of the Greek Aegean islands and the relay-race will finish on the June 23 in the castle of the Knights of Rhodes, where a special ceremony will be held.

On June 24, all relay-race groups will meet again in Athens and will go to all the buildings in which the Special Olympics athletes are housed. In the afternoon, the Flame of Hope torch will go to the Acropolis, where it will remain all night under the guard of the Presidential Guard.

On June 25, the torch will go through the Athens centre to reach the Pan Athenian Stadium Kalimarmaro and launch the World Special Olympics Games Athens 2011.

Tags: SportsSpecial Olympics GamesFlame of HopePeople with mental dissabilitesPnikaRelay-raceRoute
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