The countdown to this summer's London Olympics kicked off with the kindling of the Games torch by the sun's rays in ancient Olympia on Thursday, sparking a relay that will culminate with the lighting of the Olympic stadium's cauldron at the opening ceremony on July 27. On a warm and sunny day at the site of the ancient Olympics, actress Ino Menegaki, playing the high priestess, needed only a few seconds to ignite the torch with the help of a parabolic mirror in this traditional ceremony less than 80 days before the Games get under way.
The relay's first torchbearer, Spyros Gianniotis, a Liverpool-born Greek swimmer who won the gold medal in the 10km open water event at the 2011 world championships, started the seven-day Greek leg of the relay before the flame is handed over to London organisers on May 17 and flown to Britain a day later.
Image: A high priestess, lights the Olympic flame using a concave mirror to concentrate the sun's rays, in the final dress rehearsal for the lighting of the flame held on Wednesday. May 9, 2012, in Ancient Olympia, Greece. The flame to be lit in Thursday's ceremony in the birthplace of the Ancient Olympics will travel to London, where the Summer Games will take place from July 27-Aug. 12.
Text: Reuters Images: AP
