2026 Winter Olympics Flame Lit Indoors in Greece

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece – The Olympic flame for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games was lit on Wednesday in an indoor ceremony at a museum near the ancient site of Olympia, after bad weather forced organizers to abandon the traditional outdoor ritual in the historic stadium.

Heavy cloud cover and rain warnings in western Greece prevented the use of the customary method, in which an actress portraying an ancient priestess focuses the sun's rays through a concave mirror to ignite the torch. Instead, officials relied on a backup flame kindled during a brief spell of sunshine at Monday's emergency rehearsal. Greek rower Petros Gaidatzis received the flame from the actress and launched the torch relay during the scaled-down event inside the Olympic museum. The sun briefly emerged over the rain-soaked grounds as the ceremony concluded.

The flame, symbolizing the link between the ancient Olympic festivals dating back 2,800 years and the modern Games, will now embark on a short tour of Greece. On December 4, it will be handed over to Italian organizers in Athens before traveling to Italy for a 63-day relay covering 12,000 kilometers across all 110 provinces. About 10,000 runners will...