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Olympic torch touches down in Europe The Olympic torch touched down in Europe on Monday after ending its tour of North America, kicking off the relay's final leg before it heads back to Greece.
The torch arrived from Montreal, host of the 1976 Summer Olympics. It was handed to Belgian officials and athletes at Brussels International Airport by Spiros Lambridis, head of the Athens 2004 delegation, and then driven to the port city of Antwerp, which hosted to the 1920 games.
From there, the torch started a European tour of 17 cities, including all that have hosted the Olympics, including London, Moscow, Stockholm, Rome and Barcelona.
The flame began its trek March 25 in Olympia and returns to Greece on July 9 to make its way to Athens for the start of the Olympics on Aug. 13.
In Antwerp, the relay started at tiny Kiel Olympic Stadium, home to Belgian first division soccer club Germinal Beerschot, and where several Olympic traditions started.
The Olympic oath was introduced at the VII Olympiad and the famous flag with the five colored rings also made its debut there.
Those games also featured the first use of white doves, which were released as a symbol of peace and reconciliation two years after the end of World War I.
That tradition, however, was halted after some doves were accidentally burned in the Olympic flame at the Seoul Games in 1988.
The torch went through much of Antwerp by 140 relay runners over a 29-mile course, starting with Belgian Olympic gold medalist Gaston Roelants, the 3,000-meter hurdles champion at the 1964 Tokyo Games.
"I think I can still run 400 meters at my age. I'll go slow though," Roelants said before his run. "It's a fantastic day."
Others who carried the torch included cycling great Eddy Merckx, who won the Tour de France five times, and was overwhelmed at having participated.
"It was a special moment," he said. "It is wonderful that the flame came here to Belgium, and that I got to carry the torch."
Frederik Deburghgrave, who won gold in the 100-meter breaststroke in Atlanta in 1996, was the last runner, taking the torch to the historic central market square, where a concert was held to mark the event.
On Tuesday, the flame will make its way back to Brussels, where the relay will start from the Robert Schuman square, home to the headquarters of the European Union. The torch heads to Amsterdam on Wednesday. |
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