The Olympic flame was lit in an empty stadium on Monday at the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia before starting its journey to Beijing for the upcoming Winter Games. 

As with the ceremony in March 2020 to light the flame for the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed by a year, the event followed strict coronavirus restrictions. 

READ MORE

David Amess murder: What we know so far

Being the world's tallest woman 

China and UK preserve plant diversity 

"Due to the situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lighting Ceremony will be held in strict compliance with local health protocols," the Hellenic Olympic Committee announced in September.

The audience was limited to the members of the International Olympic Committee, the Greek and Chinese Olympic Committees, the president of Greece Katerina Sakellaropoulou and members of the media. 

Crowds were not the only aspect of the historic event being controlled. Traditionally, the flame travels hundreds of kilometers around Greece, visiting fifty cities and archaeological sites, relayed by artists and athletes from across the globe. This year, the Olympic flame relay is extremely different, with athletes from both Greece and China only completing a small part of the flame's journey. 

"There will be no Torch Relay on Greek soil and following the Lighting Ceremony in Ancient Olympia the Olympic Flame will be transferred to the Acropolis where it will stay overnight," organizers said on October 12. 

On Monday night, the flame will stay put at the Acropolis of Athens. Then on Tuesday, it will be carried to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, a second-century arena used in both the 1896 and 2004 Games. From there, it will be handed over to the delegation from Beijing 2022 and be flown to China. 

Priestess Xanthi Georgiou lit the torch with flames created by concentrating the rays of the sun in a concave. Greek skier, Ioannis Antoniou, Li Jiajun, a former Chinese track speed skater and Greek Vasilis Papavassiliou are responsible for the rest of the toned down and simplified relay. 

"It is one of the greatest honors for an athlete to be the first torchbearer for the Olympics, especially while I'm trying to qualify and participate in those Games," Antoniou told AFP during the rehearsal. 

The rehearsal on Sunday fell on the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee. In March 2020, as coronavirus began to take a hold on Greece, spectators ignored health precautions and flocked to the relay. The tradition was soon abandoned on the second day after leaving Olympia in Sparta. 

The tradition of lighting a flame started in Ancient Greece and is one of the most important symbols in the Olympic Games, representing the fire Prometheus stole from the Greek god Zeus. After the torch relay, the cauldron is lit during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which then continues to burn for the duration of the games, until it is extinguished during the closing ceremony.

Cover picture: Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, playing the role of High Priestess, lights the flame. Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games