Flame lighting rehearsal goes off without a hitch
Demetris Nellas - The Associated Press
AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris
A high priestess, right, passes on the Olympic flame she has just lit using a concave mirror to concentrate the sun's rays, to a priestess holding a cauldron in the final dress rehearsal for the lighting of the flame held on Wednesday. May 9, 2012, in Ancient Olympia, Greece. The flame to be lit in Thursday's ceremony in the birthplace of the Ancient Olympics will travel to London, where the Summer Games will take place from July 27-Aug. 12.
A high priestess, right, passes on the Olympic flame she has just lit using a concave mirror to concentrate the sun's rays, to a priestess holding a cauldron in the final dress rehearsal for the lighting of the flame held on Wednesday. May 9, 2012, in Ancient Olympia, Greece. The flame to be lit in Thursday's ceremony in the birthplace of the Ancient Olympics will travel to London, where the Summer Games will take place from July 27-Aug. 12.
That flame will serve as a backup in the unlikely event that clouds hide the sun at Thursday's official lighting ceremony. This has happened only once in recent memory for the Summer Olympics — in 2000, ahead of the late-season Sydney Games — but clouds have disrupted three of the previous four Winter Games ceremonies.
The rehearsal went on without almost any VIPs and in front of hundreds of visitors to the archaeological site, access to which will be restricted under tight security in Thursday's official ceremony.
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