The ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame for the 2026 Winter Games was held indoors in Ancient Olympia due to weather conditions. The ceremony, usually held at the stadium, was canceled due to forecasted heavy rain.
The traditional lighting of the Olympic flame in Greece is an important step in preparing for the upcoming Games. This time, instead of the typical ceremony, a modest event took place in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, where participants showed a video recording of a previous flame lighting and brought the fire inside. Greek athlete Petros Gaidatzis was the first torchbearer, joined by Italian Olympic champion Stefania Belmondo for the relay stage.
The relay will last for a week across Greece, after which on December 4 in Athens, the flame will be handed over to the Italian Games organizers. The Italian relay will pass through 60 cities and 300 towns, involving over 10,000 torchbearers. The impressive route will include notable sites such as the Colosseum in Rome and the Grand Canal in Venice, and will culminate on February 6 with the opening ceremony of the Games at San Siro Stadium in Milan.
In October, the Italian Foreign Minister expressed the intention to achieve a worldwide truce during the Games, a move supported by Ukraine.
