The Olympic flame has come a long way already. Last Thursday it was lit from the sun with the help of a mirror in a ceremony in Olympia at the Temple of Hera, and since then it’s been making a week-long tour of Greece. It’s going to end up at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, where the first ever modern games took place, and handed over to a delegation, including David Beckham.
It will then fly in a specially painted plane called Firefly all the way to Cornwall where the torch relay can get started. And then we’ll know that, despite there being 70 days left until the Olympics, it really is getting close! David Beckham, Princess Anne and the others will be handing the torch to Ben Ainslie, three times gold medal winner, for the first leg which starts in Land’s End.
An astonishing 8,000 miles later it will end up at the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony, having braved some unusual parts of the journey we hear – including taking a balloon ride and abseiling down a bridge! Check the route here and see when it comes near you.
Other News
The Orbit, the large steel tower on the Olympic Site, is open and has had its first customers admiring the view from the 115 metre tall structure. We’re still not sure it’s very pretty though!
Will Smith spent the day hanging out with Team GB, having a go at hurdling, basketball and boxing with our Olympic hopefuls.
There are still tickets available, going on sale throughout next week – we reckon they will be very popular so you might want to get up early! They aren’t all for London either, with tickets available for the football competition at grounds around the country.
Coming to London for the Olympics? Check out our useful guide here.
