The flame, which was lit on April 21st in the city of Olympia, is arriving on Wednesday at the Panathinaiko Stadium, venue of the opening of the first Games of the modern era in 1896, after touring 32 cities in Greece.
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The Korean Olympic Committee said it expects to soon provide guidelines to Olympic athletes and others traveling to the games about how to protect themselves from Zika. “Brazil is waiting for the Olympic flame with excitement and passion”, Nuzman said. Along with construction, Brazilian politics could prove a distraction from the lighting of the torch.
South Korean athletes at the Rio Olympics will wear long-sleeved training kits impregnated with mosquito repellant to protect them from the Zika virus, the national Olympic committee said on Thursday.
With Brazil now being ravaged by the Zika virus, South Korea is pulling out all the stops when it comes to protecting its athletes competing in this Summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Rio 2016 organising committee chairman Carlos Nuzman attended the handing over of the Olympic flame in Athens.
Countdown events were held around the world and Rio organizers were to take over the Olympic flame in Athens to start the long journey to South America’s first Olympics.
The flame has now headed to Switzerland to visit the United Nations Headquarters and the Olympic Museum before going to Brazil on May 3rd. “I welcome the refugee team – and I will be cheering for them with all my might”. “In our fragile world, the Olympic values of solidarity and peace are more important than ever”. “They will help our people to feel more confident”.
Last Tuesday, Ibrahim al-Hussein, a Syrian swimmer who lost part of his leg in a bombing, carried the torch through Eleonas camp in Athens, where about 1,600 asylum seekers are being given temporary shelter.
The torch will reach Rio’s Maracana Stadium for the opening ceremony on August 5.
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While the $12.5 million path, named after a famous Brazilian musician and built by the firm Concremat, wasn’t planned to be used for an official event, it’s one of a number of legacy and Olympic projects now being built across the country.
