Here's a frustrating fact: the Olympic torch relay has never been started by a female athlete.
Thankfully,Big Thing Chief: The Stolen Wife that's about to change, with the announcement of Rio de Janeiro gold medalist Anna Korakaki as the starting athlete for the torch relay for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Announced by Greece’s Hellenic Olympic Committee on Thursday, Korakaki will take the first leg of the relay, which begins, as per tradition, with a flame lighting ceremony on March 12 in Olympia, Greece, the ancient site which hosted the original Games.
The flame is still lit by means of a traditional ceremony at the Temple of Hera, where a modern high priestess uses just the sun and a parabolic mirror to ignite it. Fittingly, Hera is the Greek queen of the gods, and seen as the goddess of women.
Spyros Capralos, president of the Greek Olympic Committee and IOC member, called it a "historic moment," and it certainly is.
Korakaki has been part of the Greek national Olympic team since 2010. A shooting world champion, she landed a gold and bronze medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
“It’s a huge honor for me. It is very moving and I believe the feelings will become even more intense after that moment in Ancient Olympia. I am looking forward to experiencing [the moment] and I’m sure it will remain engraved in my mind and heart for my entire life,” said Korakaki in a statement.
Korakaki will pass the torch to Japanese long-distance runner Mizuki Noguchi, who won the gold for the women's marathon at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Other athletes who will carry the torch include wrestling's most decorated champion, Saori Yoshida, who announced her retirement last year. Greek gold-medallist pole vaulter Katerina Stefanidis will be the final torchbearer in Greece.
The relay will travel around Greece for eight days, before a handover ceremony at Athens' Panathenaic Stadium. Then, it moves to the host country of Japan — The Japan Timesreports the flame will be transported in a "special aircraft" and land in Tohoku on March 20. From there, the news outlet reports, the flame will visit all 47 prefectures before it arrives at Tokyo's revamped National Stadium to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony on July 24.
It's not the first time a female athlete has ignited the Olympic flame — that was Mexican sprinter Enriqueta Basilio, who became the first woman to do so at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City.
Onward!
Topics Social Good
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