Inclement weather has necessitated a modification to tomorrow’s event in ancient Olympia for the lighting of the sacred flame for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, according to organizers.
The Hellenic Olympic Committee stated today that a change of location was required due to the inclement weather conditions in Ancient Olympia and the persistent downpour, rendering the Ceremony at the Ancient Stadium unfeasible.
The dress rehearsal for the Lighting Ceremony of the Olympic Flame for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games was conducted successfully at the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Olympia.
The 2026 Winter Games, scheduled from February 6 to 22, will be hosted in Italy for the third occasion and will mark the first occurrence in Western Europe since the Turin Games in 2006.
The ritual to ignite the Olympic torch often occurs in Greece at the ancient ruins of the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, adjacent to the stadium where the Olympics originated in 776 BC.
A forecast of inclement weather indicates that sunlight will be unable to illuminate the parabolic mirror utilized by actresses dressed as ancient priestesses.
A flame ignited on Monday during an outside practice in sunlight will be utilized tomorrow.
The ceremony for the Paris Olympics in April 2024 utilized a reserve flame from a rehearsal.
Kirsty Coventry, the newly elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in March, will attend the ceremony for the first time in her capacity as the organization’s leader.
Petros Gaidatzis, Greece’s rowing bronze medallist at the 2024 Paris Games, has been appointed as the inaugural torchbearer to commence the Greek segment of the Olympic flame relay.
Excursion to Pompeii
The initial selection, Greek-American alpine ski racer AJ Ginnis, had an injury while training last week.
The organizers have announced that former Italian cross-country skiing champion Stefania Belmondo and luge icon Armin Zoeggeler will be among the initial torchbearers for the Greek segment of the relay.
Subsequent to a handover ceremony on December 4 in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, the location of the revival of the first modern Olympics in 1896, the torch will proceed to Rome for a 63-day, 12,000-kilometre (7,500-mile) journey through Italy’s principal towns and the archaeological site of Pompeii.
The Paralympic Winter Games are scheduled for March 6-15.
The events will encompass a broad region from Milan to the Dolomite Mountains in northeastern Italy.
Ice sports will take place in Milan, whereas Bormio and Cortina will host alpine skiing events.
The biathlon will take place in Anterselva, Nordic skiing in Val di Fiemme, and Livigno in the Italian Alps will feature snowboarding and freestyle skiing.
Despite the elevated altitude of the outdoor activities, the organizers of the Milan-Cortina Games are accumulating fake snow as a precautionary measure.
The 2026 organizing committee has announced its intention to produce 2.4 million cubic meters of artificial snow, necessitating 948,000 cubic meters of water.
Italy is the European nation that utilizes the most amount of artificial snow, with more than 90 percent of its ski slopes employing artificial snowmaking technologies, as reported by the Italian environmental organization Legambiente in April.
A December 2024 study published in the International Journal of Climatology indicates that snow cover in the Italian Alps has diminished by fifty percent during the past century.
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