Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic flame has begun its journey

The Olympic flame of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games was lit today in Olympia by Greek actress Mary Mina, who played the role of high priestess. The lighting took place in the archaeological museum, in front of the marble statue of Nike of Peonius, dating from around 420 B.C.

Mary Mina then handed the flame to the first torchbearer, rower Petros Gaidatzis, Olympic bronze medalist at Paris 2024, who lit the torch. In the museum courtyard Gaidatzis was joined by former Cuneo cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo, the last torchbearer at Turin 2006. The two reached the marble stele that marks the spot where the heart of Parisian Baron de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, was buried in a bronze urn.

It was then the turn of the greatest luge athlete of all time, Armin Zoeggeler of South Tyrol, to take over the torch, which he then handed over to former Greek gymnast Dimosthenis Tampakos, gold and silver medalist in artistic (rings) at Athens 2004 and president of the Greek Olympic Academy.

All in all, 450 torchbearers will lead the flame along more than two thousand kilometers through seven Greek regions, touch the country’s second largest city, Thessaloniki, ancient Thessalonica, and then on December 4 arrive in Athens, where, in the Panathinaiko stadium, it will be handed over to the Italian Organizing Committee, which will take it to Rome, to kick off the relay on Italian soil.

The opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina 2026 Games will take place on Feb. 6 at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in San Siro, Milan.