Pix: Official London 2012 |
Following widespread protests against China in 2008
when it hosted in Beijing the Olympic Games, countries around the world,
including Gambia may not have the chance to partake in this year’s Olympic
torch relay.
The organisers, the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) have made no plans known as to whether the torch will tour the world this
time.
The protest against china hosting the games was
mainly due the country’s poor human rights record, the Asian country is ranked
very low in the world by various human rights agencies.
The
Olympic torch was lit in Ancient Olympia in Greece on May 10, 2012, at ceremony
described as “solemn” and an atmosphere filled with mystery and tradition,
indicating the final countdown to the beginning of the 2012 summer Games to be
held in London.
For
a relay that will take the torch around Greece and Great Britain, on Thursday,
actors wearing ancient Greek costume invoked the god - Apollo in the remains of
the 2, 600-year-old Temple of Hera, using a concave mirror to harness the sun's
rays and kindle a flame on the torch.
"We
promise to protect the flame, to cherish its traditions and stage an uplifting
torch relay of which we can be proud," the head of London organising
committee, Sebastian Coe was quoted to have said. Coe vowed the event would
"lift the spirits and hopes of people across Britain and across the
world".
After
thanks to the god Apollo, regarded as the "king of the sun and the idea of
light", under the shadows of the Greek, British and Olympic flags, the
torch was handed to the first relay runner, Greece's England-born open water
swimming champion, Spyros Gianniotis.
Gianniotis
then passed it to 19-year-old British boxer, Alexander Loukos. Loukos’s father
originated from the Greek island of Lesbos and grew up in east London borough
where the Olympic Stadium is situated.
“The
torch ceremony is "a very big moment" for me. It is very moving. I am
trembling from the emotions. It is the highest honour for an athlete to do
this," the French news agency, AFP quoted Gianniotis as saying after a
rehearsal at the temple.
The
IOC has scheduled the week-long torch relay in Greece, to tour five major Greek
archaeological sites, including the Acropolis, before it arrives at the old
Olympic stadium in Athens, the site of the first modern Games in 1896.
While
Britain, the 2012 Olympic Games host will wait until May 17 to receive the
flame.
The
torch's route in Britain starts on May 19 at the southernmost tip of England to
begin a 12,875-kilometre journey that will take it through the United Kingdom
including the Republic of Ireland, before it arrives at the Olympic Stadium in
east London on July 27 and exposed to a worldwide television audience of
billions.
The
London Organising Committee revealed 7,300 people who will carry the torch,
among them, a soldier wounded in Afghanistan and a 100-year-old woman.
The
IOC said the torch is a reminder of the ancient Olympics, when a flame burned
throughout the Games, a tradition revived in 1936 during the Olympics in
Berlin, Germany.
Even
if the torch is not touring the world, like it did in the past, Britain’s Prime
Minister David Cameron, in a message to Gambia, told the country “welcome”. The
Gambia is far from top medal-grabbing countries at the Olympics and this year
will be no different.
Realistically,
Gambian businesspeople are more likely to excel at the Games than our athletes.
Apparently, Cameron knew that. He said: “If you are an entrepreneur or
investor, London 2012 is a chance to discover new opportunities in a country
which has the fewest barriers to entrepreneurship in the world.”
Written by Modou S. Joof
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