Society

Olympic flame lighting ceremony held in Olympia

Mar 13 (NHK) - The Olympic flame has been lit in Olympia, southern Greece, marking the start of the Tokyo 2020 Games torch relay.

A ceremony to light the flame began in the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games on Thursday around 11:30 a.m. local time.

Among those attending were International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and an official from the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Women in ancient Greek costumes used a concave mirror to focus sunlight and ignite the Olympic flame at the ruins of the Temple of Hera.

The flame was then passed to a torch shaped like a cherry blossom for the Tokyo Games.

Greek Olympic shooting gold medalist Anna Korakaki carried the flame as the first runner in the torch relay starting at the ancient stadium.

Japan's Mizuki Noguchi, who won a gold medal in the women's marathon at the Athens Olympics in 2004, received the flame and ran for 200 meters as the second torch bearer.

The flame is to travel around Greece for eight days before being passed to the host city in Athens on March 19 and arriving in Japan the next day.

The flame is to travel across Japan for four months starting in Fukushima Prefecture on March 26.

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