IN just under two months the Olympic flame will land in Cyprus to make its historic trip around the island before it returns to Greece to open the games in August.
One hundred and forty Cypriots have been chosen as Olympic torchbearers to carry the flame around the island when it arrives in Paphos from Sofia, Bulgaria on July 8, Cyprus Olympic Committee chairman, Kikis Lazarides, said yesterday.
Speaking at a news conference, Lazarides said the Cyprus Olympic Committee and the torch relay’s two sponsors, Coca Cola and Samsung, had chosen the local torchbearers. These include athletes, artists, academics and top college students.
“The torchbearers, famous or not, are people who represent the values of the Olympics including unity, humanity, celebration, participation, heritage, social contribution and social prototypes. People who inspire the society in which they operate,” he said. They will carry the flame under the slogan ‘let us welcome the flame that unites peoples’.
The Olympic flame will arrive in Cyprus just before it embarks for Greece after travelling around the globe carrying messages of peace, friendship and kinship among peoples throughout the world, Lazarides said.
From Paphos, the flame will travel to Limassol at around noon. From there, it will head for Nicosia, where an official welcoming ceremony will be held at Nicosia municipality. It will overnight in the capital and head for Paralimni and then Larnaca before it continues its journey to Crete to complete the final leg of its momentous journey.
In Cyprus, each torchbearer will run or walk around 400 metres and will be accompanied by an escort, said Lazarides. During the course of the relay, 15-minute breaks will be held in each town, where small ceremonies will honour the flame. The chosen municipalities have already begun making the necessary preparations, he said.
“During its route, the Olympic flame will pass by important archaeological sites, such as Paphos castle, Aphrodite’s Rock, Apollo’s Temple, Curium, Famagusta Gate and others. This will promote our culture and heritage. Images from the route will be projected throughout the world.” Specific details of the route will be announced at a later date.
The flame was lit in Ancient Olympia on March 25. It has been travelling around Greece and on June 3 will begin its unprecedented around-the-world journey covering 79,500-kilometre across five continents, 27 countries and 34 cities with some 11,000 runners. The flame will be transported by plane, car, boat, bicycle, motorbike and wheelchair, said Lazarides.
More than 264 million people live in the 34 cities and surrounding areas where the flame will pass and more than 3.8 billion people live in the 27 countries along the way, he said.
The 78-day itinerary includes groundbreaking African stops in Cairo, Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa.
The torch relay returns to Greece on July 9 for the second half of its domestic relay before it opens up the August 13-29 Olympics.
