As clouds threaten ceremony, Greece prepares a backup flame for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics

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ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — Even the gods need a backup plan.

Organizers in Ancient Olympia held an emergency rehearsal Monday to light the flame for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games, seizing on a brief break in Greece’s stormy weather.

With heavy cloud cover forecast for Wednesday’s official lighting ceremony, the flame produced Monday will be kept as a backup.

An actress portraying an ancient high priestess used a concave mirror to concentrate the sun’s rays onto a torch. I took seven seconds to ignite the flame – without artificial means and preserving a tradition inspired by the original Olympic Games dating back 2,800 years.

The flame was lit following a theatrical invocation of Apollo, the ancient god of light. But success depends on simple, unforgiving physics: The mirror must focus direct sunlight to generate the searing temperature needed for ignition. Without it, the method fails.

Olympic organizers said they had been tracking the weather for days, supported by a team from the Greek Meteorological Service, to time the brief window of sun.

Updates were relayed every two hours, according to Jochen Farber, head of the Olympic Channel’s office in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“The weather forecast is based on mathematical algorithms. There are about 25 to 30 different models used to calculate predictions based on available data,” Farber told The Associated Press.

“The weather team also constantly compares the forecasts against actual outcomes,” he said. “And that’s what guided our decision.”

Olympia, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Athens, was considered sacred ground by the ancient Greeks. Today it serves as the symbolic starting point for every Olympic competition, the flame intended to link the ancient festival and the modern games.

Organizers also relied on a backup flame for the 2024 Paris Games. This year, after a brief tour of Greece, the flame will embark on a 63-day, 12,000-kilometer relay through all 110 Italian provinces before concluding Feb. 6 at Milan’s San Siro Stadium.

Runners will carry the “Essenziale,” a sleek Italian-designed torch made with recycled aluminum, fitted with a bio-based polymer grip and fueled by renewable-source gas.

The Feb. 6–22 Milan Cortina Games will be Italy’s third Winter Olympics and the first jointly hosted by two cities. They will feature 116 medal events, the debut of ski mountaineering, higher female participation and the return of NHL players to Olympic hockey.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics