Olympic Flame for Beijing Games Lit in Ancient Olympia

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

["Olympic Flame for Beijing Games Lit in Ancient Olympia" - Xinhua headline]

OLYMPIA, Greece, March 24 (Xinhua) – Greece’s actress Maria Nafpliotou, the head priestess, lit the torch in the Olympic flame lighting ceremony for the Beijing Games at the site of ancient Olympia on Monday.

The lighting heralded the start of a five-month torch relay that will end at the Games’ opening ceremony on August 8.

Greek taekwondo athlete Alexandros Nikolaidis, Olympic silver medalist in 2004, will be the first torchbearer of a six-day Greek relay.

The flame will be handed over to the Chinese on March 30.

Originally published by Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 0956 24 Mar 08.

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