Latest Olympic Flame Stories

By Nelson Graves TURIN (Reuters) - The keepers of the flame live in a hole and survive on cold cereal, crackers and baked beans. Federico Fiorini pressed the green button that ignited the Olympic cauldron at the start of the Turin Games. On Sunday he will pull the bright yellow lever to snuff out the flame. He and two colleagues have lived 10 feet underground to make sure the fire stays alit over Turin's skyline and on television sets around the world. From offstage they play main roles...

By Jane Barrett TURIN (Reuters) - The Turin Winter Olympics were set to open on Friday with a theatrical extravaganza celebrating Italian history before the flame is lit and athletes launch two weeks of cut-throat competition. Turin has been criticized for its apathy toward the Games but many residents of the northwestern city said the opening ceremony would spark their enthusiasm for the Olympics. "We like a good show and once the flame is lit we'll all realize the Olympics are...

By Jane Barrett TURIN (Reuters) - Flags proclaiming "Passion lives here" flutter around Turin but step into an average bar or bus and the Olympic slogan quickly fizzles out of steam. "What do they mean, passion? The Games are just a pain," said Mario Appendino, a security guard. "We've been living in a building site for the last three years, now there are roadblocks everywhere and those of us involved in the Games are working too hard to enjoy them." With little more than 24 hours to go...

By Jane Barrett TURIN (Reuters) - Hundreds of street protesters, denouncing the Winter Games, forced Olympic torch bearers to change route through the host city on Thursday on the eve of the opening ceremony. Games organizers diverted the flame from the protest site after the demonstrators gathered on the planned route and police warned of possible harm to torch bearers or spectators. "We've succeeded today in making our voices heard," a protest organizer called Marco shouted through a...

By Ossian ShineTURIN (Reuters) - You know, maybe Andy Warhol was right.It wasn't quite 15 minutes of fame, more like three, but on a northwestern Italian road I had my share of fleeting fame.For those handful of minutes I held aloft the Olympic torch and carried it past cheering locals, screaming and waving schoolchildren, pensioners and the plain curious.For those moments I was, for some, the focal point of the biggest circus in town, the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics.And what a torch it was to...

By Jane BarrettTURIN (Reuters) - Hundreds of street protesters forced the Olympic torch to bypass part of the host city on Thursday as demonstrators denounced the Winter Olympics on the eve of the opening ceremony.Games organizers said they decided to divert the flame from the area of the protest after the demonstrators gathered on its anticipated route and police warned of possible harm to torch bearers or spectators.It was the fourth time that protesters have forced the torch to divert from...

TURIN (Reuters) - The Olympic torch was diverted away from an Italian town on Wednesday because police feared planned protests could harm torch bearers and spectators, organizers said. It was the third town near the Winter Olympics host city of Turin from which the torch was diverted since Sunday. Police told organizers to skirt the town of Avigliana, which lies between Turin and the French border. The Winter Olympics organizing committee (TOROC) said on Sunday police advised against...

By Nelson Graves TURIN (Reuters) - The Turin Winter Olympics will mar mountains and waste enough gas with its symbolic flame to supply a small town, but damage will be limited by smart energy planning, a leading environmental group said on Wednesday. WWF, formerly the World Worldlife Fund but now known by its initials, gave the Games a mixed report card in a 38-page document. It slammed a bobsleigh track and two ski jumps that slice down two mountainsides, but praised organizers for...

By Jane Barrett TURIN (Reuters) - Alberto Tomba, the Italian skier whose flamboyant escapades shot skiing on to the front pages, wants a final dash of Olympic glory by being chosen to light the flame at the Turin Games on Friday. Tomba became the most famous skier in the world in the 1980s and 1990s, both for bombing down hills by day and for throwing wild parties by night. "La Bomba," as he became known, entertained thoughts of bouncing out of retirement eight years ago for the Turin...

By Antonella Ciancio TURIN (Reuters) - Anti-capitalist protesters vowed on Tuesday to mount street demonstrations at the Winter Olympics and try to disrupt U.S. First Lady Laura Bush's visit to the host Italian city. The protests will target the February 10-26 Games and their multinational sponsors, a high-speed train planned for a valley near the host city Turin, a proposed Italian anti-drug law and unemployment, organizers said. "Our goal is to give voice to dissent," Turin resident...