Winter Olympics 2026 flame to ignite in ancient Olympia

The flame for the 2026 Winter Olympics, scheduled to be held in Milan-Cortina in Italy, will be ignited in ancient Olympia, Greece, on Wednesday.

The last-minute change has been made due to poor weather conditions forced by the organisers.

The ceremony usually takes place at the ruins of the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, near the stadium, which is the birthplace of the Olympics; the games were invented in 776 BC.

Organisers have instead decided to move the ceremony to the Olympia archaeological museum, which is the house of Greece’s most famous classical sculptures, including Hermes and the Infant Dionysus by Praxiteles.

The 2024 Paris Olympics rowing bronze medalist of Greece, Petros Gaidatzis, will be launching the Greek leg of the Olympic flame relay as she is selected to be the first torchbearer, as the original pick, Greek-American alpine ski racer AJ Ginnis, injured himself during training last week.

Kirsty Coventry, who was elected as the new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in March, will attend the ritual for the first time as the head of the organisation.

As per the organisers, ex-Italian cross-country ski champion Stefania Belmondo and luge legend Armin Zoeggeler are set to be among the first torchbearers on the Greek leg of the relay.

The flame will head to Rome for a 63-day stay after a December 4 handover ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, the place where the first modern Olympics were revived in 1896.

The 2026 Winter Games, scheduled from February 6-22, will take place in Italy for the third time, and the first time in western Europe since the Turin Games in 2006.

The Paralympic Winter Games will be held from March 6-15. The events will span a vast area from Milan to the Dolomite mountains in Italy’s north-east.