Race walker Antigone Drisbioti carries the Flame. [© Hellenic Olympic Committee]
Storms Threaten Handover Ceremony
By Philip Barker
A forecast of storms has forced the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) to shorten the Handover Ceremony to Milano Cortina in the historic Panathinaiko Stadium on Thursday morning (December 4th).
“The Hellenic Olympic Committee announces that due to the National Meteorological Service’s forecast of adverse weather conditions and storms, the Handover Ceremony to the Italian delegation for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be limited in time, in order to ensure safety and limit the risks for all participants.”
A week ago, the prospect of bad weather prompted organisers to stage the start of the Relay inside the archaeological museum with a Flame lit at rehearsal two days before.
It has since been conveyed across Greece by a veritable cavalcade of champions and leading sport personalities.
“Athletes will once again stand at the heart of the Relay, the living embodiment of the Olympic ideal,” promised HOC Olympic Torch Relay Commission (OTRC) Chairman Thomas Tokas.
“The Olympic Flame, an enduring symbol of peace, unity and culture is preparing to embark on its new journey from Greece to Italy, once again illuminating the path of Olympic values.”
It stirred memories of Games past from the moment double Olympic Champion Stefania Belmondo joined Paris 2024 rowing bronze medallist Petros Gaidatzis on the first leg in a symbolic gesture of gender equality.
Belmondo had ignited the cauldron at the Olympic Stadium at the Torino 2006 Opening Ceremony, the last Games held on Italian soil.
After a brief stop to pay tribute to Baron Pierre de Coubertin at the marble monument, double luge gold medallist Armin Zoeggler took the Flame into the International Olympic Academy (IOA) the first time it had done so.
“It was my first time carrying the torch, when you are an athlete you have no idea of coming here, you are more focussed for the athletic aspects, for me it was my discipline,” Zoeggler had said.
2004 Olympic gymnastics gold medallist Dimosthenis Tampakos, who took the Flame from Zoeggler, already had some experience as a Torchbearer. He lit the Winter Flame amongst the marble columns on Acropolis Hill during the Relay for Pyeongchang 2018.
IOA Dean and ISOH Vice President Kostas Georgiadis continued another tradition: before the Flame left the village of Olympia, he passed it to Megan Ritch, a past participant at the IOA who works with USA Triathlon and USOPC. Students from the IOA have regularly taken part in the Relay since 1996.
As each municipality welcomed the Flame it was presented with a replica of the amphora used to carry the Flame at the lighting Ceremony, each donated by OTRC member Spiros Kalozoumis.
In a rainy Patras, the proceedings were begun at Vasileos Georgiou Square in Patras, Denia Koureta, a member of the world championship winning women’s water polo team was the first bearer. Other members of the squad are set to play a role at the grand finale.
Later, gymnast Nikos Iliopoulos, a competitor at the inaugural Youth Olympics in 2010, ignited the tripod outside the museum in honour of Kostis Palamis, the national poet who wrote the words to the Olympic Hymn.
The Relay had first crossed the Antirrio Bridge across the Gulf of Corinth shortly after it first opened in 2004. This time the bearers included Hou Kun, a member of the IOC Culture and Education Commission.
Double European Championship gold medallist Antigone Drisbioti had carried the Greek flag in the 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony.
She had also been a Torchbearer at the handover to Paris in the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens.
This time her turn with the Torch came in Karditsa.
In Metsovo, the Flame was carried by double rowing Olympian Yannis Tsilis and skier Apostolos Angelis, another with previous experience. He had launched the 2018 Relay as the first runner in Ancient Olympia.
The Flame was lit there by Costas Douvalidis, 110m hurdles champion at the 2013 Mediterranean Games.
There was an emotional moment for another Greek Flag bearer in Naosa. Triple Olympian skier Sofia Ralli was joined by her young daughter Artemis to light the cauldron in an unforgettable moment.
At the other end of the age scale 87-year-old Themis Kanaris was the oldest to carry the Flame on Greek soil when he did so in Drama.
By now the sun had returned as 2004 taekwondo silver medallist Elli Mystakidou lit a cauldron in her home town of Giannitsa.
Perhaps the longest journey was made by George and Sotiris Tsianakas, two brothers who travelled from Australia to take part in the Relay.
In Thessaloniki, the Flame visited the Olympic Museum, founded by the city mayor and HOC Vice President Stelios Angeloudis.
“The Flame embodies the Olympic values, which we have not yet fully mastered today. Peace, solidarity, excellence,” he said.
A cauldron was lit by Maria Georgatou, a member of the bronze medal winning rhythmic gymnastics team from Sydney 2000.
Archer Evangelia Psarra, a competitor at every Olympics from 2000 to 2021 carried the Flame from “The Umbrellas,” the famous sculpture on the coastline, as it headed South towards the capital.
Stergios Papachristos, twice a World Championship silver medallist in coxless four and Eleftheria Ftouli who competed for Greece at Athens 2004 were both Torchbearers and at the end of the day, basketball star Panagiotis Giannakis lit the altar at Eleftherias Square in Lamia.
On the penultimate day, the Flame made its way through the mountain town of Arahova carried by alpine skier Maritina Papastathi.
It is set to spend its final night on the Acropolis hill.
After its passage through Athens, it is set to arrive at the stadium where the altar will be lit by water polo player Elena Xenaki who won world championship gold in Singapore earlier in the summer.
For the last Handover to Paris in 2024, it was the Greek men’s water polo team who escorted the Flame.
Milano Cortina 2026 President Giovanni Malago is set to collect the Flame which will begin a 63-day journey across Italy on December 6.
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