Flame lit for Vancouver Winter Games 2010

The flame was lit Thursday for the 2010 Winter Olympics and carried off by the first relay runner on a journey of more than 47,000 kilometres to Vancouver.The Games are scheduled to take place in Canada from February 12-28. At the ancient birthplace of the Olympics, a high priestess used a concave mirror to capture the sun's rays and help spark the flame before the temple of Hera. Actress Maria Nafpliotou, playing the role of high priestess and supported by 20 vestals, implored the sun god Apollo to light the sacred flame.Among the official attendance were International Olympic Committee chairman Jacques Rogge and Vancouver organising committee head John Furlong. At Canada's request, the elaborate ceremony was the same as for the summer Olympics and the dancing vestals handed over the torch to the first relay-runner: giant slalom skiier Vassilis Dimitriadis. The Olympic flame was to be carried 2,180 kilometres across Greece in the coming week and arrive in Victoria, British Columbia, on October 30 to embark on a 106-day, 45,000 kilometer journey through Canada. The stainless steel and aluminium torch was to be handed over to the Canadian organising committee on October 29 at the Athens stadium that staged the first modern games in 1896.Twelve thousand relay runners were to carry the flame before the opening ceremony in Vancouver on February 12.