Igniting the passion and dream of the Olympic movement (towards the Winter Olympics)

Source: People's Daily

On October 18, the Fire Seeds of the Beijing Winter Olympics were successfully collected in Ancient Olympia, Greece. The picture shows an actor playing the highest priestess lighting a fire.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zheng Huansong

Pure ice and snow, passionate dating.

October 18, 2021, Ancient Olympia, Greece, early morning after rain.

Ancient Olympia is the birthplace of Olympic sports, surrounded by hills and magnificent ruins, where the spark of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was ignited.

At noon local time, golden sunshine poured down and sprinkled beams on the historic Ancient Olympia Stadium. As the Olympic anthem sounded over the ruins of the ancient Olympia Hera Temple, the Olympic five-ring flag was slowly raised.

In front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera, Sanssi Giorgio, a well-known Greek actress who plays the supreme priestess, prays to Apollo, the god of light, half-crouching, raising the torch in her hand and pointing it at the concave mirror in front of the altar. Everyone present held their breath - in an instant, the sunlight focused, the flames of the ignition stick burst out, and the torch was successfully lit! The atmosphere was warm, with cheers and applause.

"The Olympic tinder is a noble symbol of the Olympic spirit." Yu Zaiqing, special representative of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, vice chairman of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, said, "When the new crown pneumonia epidemic hit, the Olympic flame once again brought people confidence, warmth and hope, and gathered the strength to jointly defeat the epidemic. ”

To the accompaniment of ancient Greek-style music, priests dressed in traditional costumes dance on the hillside next to the temple. The dance is atmospheric and elegant, blending classical and modern, beautiful.

Walking into the ancient Olympia Sports Ground, the Supreme Priestess lit the "flying" torch in the hands of the first torchbearer of the Beijing Winter Olympic Torch Relay and the Greek alpine skier Giannis Antonius, and the Olympic fire was burning. Giannis Antonio held aloft the torch and olive branch and ran along the established route. The silver-red "flying" torch is like two colored ribbons fluttering in the sky, swirling and rising, symbolizing "ice and fire meet, passion soars, illuminates ice and snow, and warms the world".

Next to the Monument to Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympics, Li Jiajun, a former Chinese short-track speed skater, took over the torch in the hands of Giannis Antonius and began the relay inheritance of this huge spiritual belief. Li Jiajun won a silver medal in the 1,000m at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, making him China's first male athlete to win a medal at the Winter Olympics.

"To be able to come to Greece and be a torchbearer I think is a very sacred thing. I have been involved in ice and snow sports since 1981 and have been working on ice and snow sports since I retired. At present, we are actively preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics to be held at our doorstep to ensure the daily training of all teams of the national team. "Li Jiajun, who has fought in the Winter Olympics for 4 years, holds high the torch and has a healthy posture.

Riding on the torch of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the Olympic flame ignited the passion and dream of the Olympic Movement in the hearts of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people! On February 4, 2022, the Beijing Winter Olympics will open, and China looks forward to sharing the Winter Olympics with the world.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: "Beijing will write history as the first city ever to host both the Summer And Winter Olympics. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will connect Chinese people with the world, realize the vision of 300 million people participating in ice and snow sports, and change the history of winter sports forever. ”

The Olympic Movement is the common heritage of human civilization, and the Olympic tinder is the highest symbol of the Olympic spirit.

On March 30, 2008, China took over the seeds of the Beijing Olympic Games here and, together with the people of the world, hosted an unparalleled Olympic Games. In the past 13 years, China's Olympic movement has achieved great development. At this moment, the spark of the Beijing Winter Olympics carries the Olympic spirit and will once again be displayed and transmitted inside and outside the Great Wall, blooming the light of peace and friendship.

On October 19, the Hellenic Olympic Committee will transfer the torch at the Marble Stadium in Athens to the delegation of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee.

The president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Spyros Capralos, said that the scene of the fire was once again bringing hope to the world. "I believe that the Beijing Winter Olympics will be a victory of human will and effort, and when the world's best athletes strive to achieve good results in the Winter Olympic Games, Beijing will once again write a glorious page in the history of the Olympic Games."

Meet the covenant of ice and snow and run to a better future.

In the winter of 2022, meet the Winter Olympics and meet in Beijing, we will "go to the future together"!