The Olympic flame for the Paris Games was lit in the ancient city of Olympia in Greece, some 100 days before the opening ceremony on July 26, AFP reports.
Due to overcast skies at the site of the first Olympic Games in ancient times, the flame could not be lit by the sun's rays, as per ancient tradition, and was lit with a spare flame saved from the April 15 dress rehearsal.
After an 11-day journey through Greece, the fire will be transported to France for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris on 26 July.
The lighting of the flame for the games, which will be held until August 11, took place in front of the 2,600-year-old ruins of the Temple of Hera in the birthplace of Olympism in the presence of International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.
"In these difficult times, when wars and conflicts are multiplying, people are fed up with hatred," he said in a brief speech in Olympia.
"In our hearts we long for something to bring us together again, something to unite us, something to give us hope," he added.
"The Olympic flame that we light today symbolizes that hope," the German added.
Tony Estanget, chairman of the Paris Olympics Organizing Committee, also saw the Games as "more than ever a source of inspiration for all of us and for future generations" at a time when the world is reeling from crises.
In Greece, six hundred torchbearers will pass the flame, which will travel 5,000 km through seven Greek islands, 10 archaeological sites and the Acropolis, where it will spend a night beside the Parthenon.
In the Greek port of Piraeus, the flame will embark on 26 April on board the three-masted ship "Belem", which will reach Marseille in south-eastern France on 8 May.
The symbol of the Olympic Games will then cross the whole of France, passing through the West Indies and French Polynesia. / BGNES
