Greece prepares to light the world with Olympic flame again

The Greek Olympic committee held its Olympic torch lighting rehearsal  on Monday  ahead of the actual ceremony to take place Tuesday for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

The impressive rehearsal took place in Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic Games with the actual ceremony to take place today, Tuesday (Oct. 24) at 12:00 (Athens time) at the ancient stadium of Olympia, with actress Katerina Lehou as High Priestess and Artemis Ignatiou as the choreographer.

The Olympic torch lighting ceremony will be attended by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and signals the start of the countdown towards the next edition of the Games in South Korea.

The first torchbearer will be Greek cross-country skier Apostolos Angelis, followed by South Korea's veteran football player Park Ji-sung after the torch lighting.

Over the following week, the flame will take a tour of Greece, covering 2,129km and will arrive at the Acropolis on 30 October. Some 505 torchbearers will participate and 36 welcome ceremonies will be held in 20 municipalities over the eight days.

The ceremony to handover the flame to the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee will be held at the Panathenaic Stadium on 31 October at 11:00 (Athens time).