More than 605 Greek torchbearers will run with the Olympic flame for seven days before handing it over to Chinese officials for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, officials said Thursday, according to dpa. The lighting ceremony for the Olympic flame, which indicates the official start of the torch relay, will take place in Ancient Olympia, in western Greece on March 24. The flame will be lit by a group of Greek priestesses, played by modern day actresses at noon, from the rays of the sun, before it is handed over to the first torch runner, Greek tae kwon do champion Alexandros Nikolaidis. The Greek torchbearers will run 1,528 kilometres in Greece over seven days. The relay will pass through 16 regions and 43 cities. The flame will arrive at the Panathinaiko Stadium in central Athens, where the first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896, on March 30 and will be handed over to Chinese officials in a special ceremony.
