Rio 2016 Olympic FlameLighting Ceremony to be hosted in Olympia on Thursday, 21 April The Olympic Flame will be litthis Thursday, 21 April, in a ceremony at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece.Before arriving in Brazil on 3 May for the start in Brasilia of the 95-dayOlympic Torch Relay, which will pass through 329 cities in Brazil, the Olympic Flamewill travel across Greece for six days. It then goes to Switzerland, where the flamewill be taken to the UN headquarters in Geneva and the IOC Museum in Lausanne. · The Rio 2016 Olympic Flame will be lit at 12.00pm (9.00amGMT time) in Olympia · The ceremony may be watched live on the InternationalOlympic Committee’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNMZG9dQ_0Q) and on theHellenic Olympic Committee’s website (http://www.hoc.gr/en) · Actress Katerina Lehou, who will be playing the roleof High Priestess, will be leading the ceremony at the Temple of Hera. She willbe the first person to light the flame · Lehou will hand over the flame to the first Rio 2016 torchbearer,the Greek gymnast Eleftherios Petrounias, who competed on the artisticgymnastics test event in Rio last week (Read: http://www.rio2016.com/en/news/i-nearly-crashed-my-car-when-i-heard-i-d-be-the-first-rio-2016- torchbearer-says-eleftherios-pet) · Two-time volleyball Olympic champion Giovane Gáviowill be the first Brazilian person to run with the Torch, and the second torchbearerin Greece. (Read: http://www.rio2016.com/en/news/volleyball-legend- giovane-gavio-selected-as-first-brazilian-to-run-in-rio-2016-olympic-torch-re) · There will be 46 people at the ceremony, which wasorganised by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, including 29 actors playing therole of priestesses and 13 dancers. The performance was choreographed by Artemis Ignatiou and the musical score was composed by Yiannis Psimadas. · The president of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee,Carlos Arthur Nuzman, will also participate in the ceremony Find below the programme forthe Rio 2016 Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony: 12.00pm – Start of theceremony Olympic Circles: a synthesis 12.07pm – Olympic Anthem – hoistingof the Olympic flag. Brazilian national anthem – hoisting of the Brazilian flag 12.11pm – Greek nationalanthem – hoisting of the Greek flag · “The Light of Olympia”, poem by Takis Doxas, recited byactor Yiannis Stankoglou · Speech by the mayor of Ancient Olympia, Mr. EfthymiosKotzas · Short speech by the president of the Rio 2016Organising Committee, Mr. Carlos Arthur Nuzman · Short speech by the president of the InternationalOlympic Committee, Mr. Thomas Bach 12.23pm – Short speech by thepresident of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Mr. Spyros Capralos 12.26pm – Entrance of the designatedofficials into the Temple of Hera 12.32pm – Ritual of the LightingCeremony at the Temple of Hera · Entrance of High Priestess and priestesses into theAncient Stadium with the Olympic Flame · Dance performance by the priestesses 12.50pm – Handing over of theOlympic Flame by High Priestess to the first torchbearer · Departure of the first torchbearer for the Pierre deCoubertin monument · Start of the Olympic Torch Relay Firsttorchbearers Eleftherios Petrounias, 26,who secured a spot at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, won three gold medals on rings in 2015: at the World Championship, in Glasgow, the EuropeanChampionship, in Montpellier, and the European Games in Baku. Petrounias wasvoted the best athlete of 2015 by the Pan-Hellenic Association of Sport Press.This is his first participation in the Olympic Games. Former volleyball player GiovaneGávio is a two-time Olympic Champion (Barcelona 1992 and Athens 2004), four-timeWorld League winner (1993, 2001, 2003, 2004), world champion in 2002, and two-time winner of the European Champions League. He was also voted best blocker andbest attacker, respectively, at the 1989 and 2003 World Cups in Japan. Gávio willparticipate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as a Sport Manager, responsible forboth the indoor and beach volleyball championships. TheOlympic Flame Ancient Greeks considered firea divine element. They kept eternal flames at the entrance of main temples suchas the sanctuary of Olympia, where the Ancient Olympic Games took place. Theflame used to be lit using a “skaphia”, a concave mirror that focused the sun’srays on a specific spot to guarantee its purity. The flame was kept permanentlyalight at the altar of Hestia, as well as those of Zeus and Hera, across fromwhere the Olympic Flame is currently lit. The Modern Olympic Torch Relaystarted at the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, and it has been a part of the eventever since. The sacred flame is lit in Olympia and the relay carries it to theopening ceremony of the Games. ke2yIfUP ABOUT SALA DE IMPRENSA O Revezamento da Tocha Olímpica Rio 2016 vai percorrer 327 cidades do Brasil em 95 dias. Sala de imprensa LATEST TWEETS Tweets.