Introduction
The Olympic torch relay is the ceremony that brings the Olympic flame from ancient Olympia in Greece to the location of the Olympic Games. In 2000 the Summer Olympics were held in Sydney, Australia, and the torch relay started on May 10th in ancient Olympia, the flame first traveling through Greece and after 10 days arriving in Athens. On Saturday the 20th of May 2000 the Olympic flame was officially handed over to officials of the Australian Olympic organisation during a ceremony by the priestesses of Olympia at the Panathenaic stadium in Athens, the first Olympic stadium of the modern Olympic Games. For this event Vangelis provided original music and several themes could be heard during the ceremony.
After the ceremony, which was only attended by some 200 invited guests and closed to the public due to a recent earthquake, the olympic flame traveled to Guam and ultimately arrived in the Olympic Stadium of Sydney during the opening ceremony on the 15th of September 2000. When the Olympic Games in Sydney ended on the 1st of October 2000 the Olympic flag was symbolically handed over to Athens, which would be the next city to host the Summer Olympic Games in 2004. During this handover ceremony more of Vangelis’ music was played, most of it heard before at the Olympic Emblem presentation.
Details and credits
- Title: Olympic Flame ceremony
- Year: 2000
- Country: Greece
- Music by Vangelis.
Media
The ceremony was broadcast on Greek television and possibly also in Australia and other countries.
Links
Gallery
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