ANCIENT OLYMPIA /Greece/, November 26. /TASS/. The Olympic Flame for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy was lit on Wednesday during the Lighting Ceremony at the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Olympia in Greece, a TASS correspondent reported.

The ceremony was attended by President of Greece Konstantinos Tasoulas, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry, IOC Honorary President Thomas Bach, President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Isidoros Kouvelos, President of the Milano Cortina Organizing Committee Giovanni Malago, IOC Member Spyros Capralos, Deputy Minister of Sports Giannis Vroutsis, Mayor of Ancient Olympia Aristidis Panayiotopoulos and other officials.

"We are extremely happy that today’s ceremony reminds us what the Games stand for," IOC President Coventry said at the ceremony. "They are about bringing people together in peaceful competition, in friendship and in respect."

"As we light the Olympic flame for Milano Cortina, we will carry this light from the past to the present and into the future. And it’s a shared future that we all want to see. This is why we firmly believe in the Olympic Truce. In laying down our differences and wanting to hope for a brighter future," she continued.

"These Games come at a critical point in our history. In a divided world that we live in today, the Games hold a truly symbolic place. And it’s our duty, our responsibility, to ensure that the athletes from around the world can come together peacefully, and that they can inspire the dreams and hopes of those around the world that are watching," she added.

This year, due to poor weather conditions, the ceremony was for the first time moved inside - to the Archaeological Museum. As a rule, actresses dressed as Greek priestesses perform the ceremony. An actress dressed as an ancient Greek High Priestess sets a torch on fire, which is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror. Today, however, the torch was lit by the fire collected with the use of the parabolic mirror during the dress rehearsal on Monday, November 24.

Greek actress Mary Mina, dressed as an ancient Greek High Priestess, passed the Olympic flame to the first torchbearer - Greek Olympic medalist in rowing Petros Gaidatzis.

The Olympic flame has embarked on a 9-day relay throughout Greece, when it will see about 450 torchbearers carry the flame, with the final destination being the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, where it will be handed over to the hosts of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

Following the official handover ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium on December 4, the Olympic flame will leave for Italy, spending December 5 in Rome before the Italian section of the Olympic Torch Relay starts on December 6.

The Italian section of the Olympic torch relay, which was labeled "The Greatest Journey" by the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, begins exactly two months ahead of the official opening ceremony of the 2026 Olympics in Milan. Over 63 days, the relay will cover 12,000 kilometers (over 7,450 miles), visiting all of Italy’s 20 regions and 110 provinces, and passing 60 World Heritage Sites before reaching Milan.

The ritual of lighting the Olympic flame dates back to the ancient Olympic Games in Greece. It is a reminder of the legend of titan Prometheus, who stole fire from the Gods and gave it to human beings as a gift.

The modern tradition was revived in 1928, at the Amsterdam Olympics, when the Olympic flame was for the first time lit at the main stadium. And in 1936, before the Olympic Games in Berlin, a torch relay was held for the first time in modern history.

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Italy, in the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The event will take place on February 6-22, 2026. Russian athletes are allowed to participate in the Olympics under a neutral status and only in individual competitions.

As of today, only Russian figure skaters Adelia Petrosyan and Pyotr Gumennik, as well as ski mountaineer Nikita Fillipov have qualified for next year’s Olympics. Russian speed skaters and short track speed skaters also still have a chance to qualify for the Winter Games.