Yup, it started in Sydney this morning and will now go to 33 cities in 34 days (hmm, so which favoured city is staying for a couple of days in?). Apparently the flame's going on planes in a lantern. Are they really letting a lit lantern on a plane? Seems unlikely somehow. But I guess we'll have to take their word for it.
Apparently Sydney folk got very excited when the flame turned up from Athens this morning - so it seems, their government may not think it's safe for Aussies to go to Greece for the Games, but they're fine about a plane turning up with a fire on it.
The other odd thing is that the flame gets back to Athens on July 9 and then waits around until the opening ceremony on August 13. I guess after all that rushing about the globe the flame needs to chill for a while. Y'know, get over its jetlag before the big day.
3 comments:
Ouch, that was a little harsh toward the Australians! Here, there was plenty of excitement over the weekend about the torch coming by. In Melbourne, my family went out to watch it passed by, and felt quite moved by it. No doubt the closer to Athens it gets, the more enthusiasm was grow around the world.
RE Australian / Government Enthisiasm for the Athens Games / Olympic Flame .... I might remind everyone reading this that the Government was only trying to protect Australian citizens, or should it just oignore the apparent threat and we have another Bali style massacre. Wake up people. It was the right thing to do (issue a travel warning) ... I went and saw the Olympic Flame and it was fantastic .... it reminded me of the great festival we had in 2000 and of the great festival to come in Athens.
The olympics in Athens will be a huge success ... Athletes will turn up, they will compete, they will put in amazing performances, specttators will cheer, people will love the games and want to have them back again. That is the case in Sydney. I volunteered on the bid, during the Pioneer Volunteer program and at he games themselves. I'd do it again and again .... oh just to have the games back. Athens will in many areas do better than Sydney ... if sucessive cities cannot better the event ... the the event willdie off as it did back in the days BC.
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