ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece - The flame that will burn at the Athens Olympics began its round-the-world journey Thursday under unprecedented security that included metal detectors and commandos hiding in laurel groves.
The ceremony was resplendent with tradition but shadowed by fears of terrorism.
"Because of extremist phenomena and uncontrolled fanaticism, we are living under unrivaled conditions of insecurity that paralyze and exhaust us," said Lambis Nikolaou, president of the Greek Olympic Committee.
The flame was lit by the sun's rays using a concave mirror at the ancient sanctuary where the Olympics were born 2,780 years ago. More than 6,000 spectators, all screened by police, rose as the first torch bearer, Greek javelin champion Costas Gatzioudis, took the flame from an actor in the role of a priestess from antiquity. Gatzioudis held the olive wood-and-magnesium torch in one hand and an olive branch in the other as he jogged from the ancient stadium.
Athens must overcome huge construction delays and coordinate a record security network. The International Olympic Committee increased pressure on organizers to drop borderline projects and concentrate on essentials for the Aug. 13-29 Games.
"It was in Olympia that everything began ... and today everything is going to begin again for Athens," IOC president Jacques Rogge said at the ceremony, which was organized without any apparent glitches.
The modern Games were revived in 1896 in Athens by French baron Pierre de Coubertin. The Olympics were born in Olympia in 776 B.C. and held every four years until the Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished them in 393 A.D. after he deemed the games pagan.
Actor Thalia Prokopiou led more than two dozen women dressed in flowing robes in the lighting ceremony at the ruins of an altar to the goddess Hera. She carried the flame in an urn.
It then set ablaze the torch of the javelin athlete. The second runner, Russian swim champion Alexander Popov, took over and began a relay that will include more than 11,000 runners in 27 countries in its first global voyage. It will pass through Africa and South America for the first time.
The first leg of the torch relay will weave through Greece before its scheduled arrival Wednesday at the marble Athens stadium that hosted the first modern Olympiad.
The flame begins its worldwide 46,800-mile voyage June 4. In the United States, stops include Los Angeles, St. Louis and Atlanta.
