ANCIENT OLYMPIA, GREECE — Fire spurted from a concave mirror Wednesday as a priestess, kneeling in her long, pleated dress before a ruined Greek temple, focused the blazing sun's rays on her metal torch.Come rain or shine on Thursday's official lighting ceremony, Rio de Janeiro has now secured its Olympic flame, which will burn in the Brazilian host city throughout the Aug. 5-21 games.
About 2,500 people attended Wednesday's dress rehearsal for the meticulously-choreographed ceremony in Ancient Olympia, southern Greece, where the Olympics of antiquity were held for more than 1,000 years.
The flame lit before the Temple of Hera will be kept as a backup, in case cloudy skies derail Thursday's ceremony, which will be attended by top International Olympic Committee officials and Rio organizers.The buildup to the Olympics has been clouded by a series of non-games linked setbacks in Brazil, which is facing a major political corruption crisis, a Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is facing an impeachment process, canceled a scheduled appearance at Thursday's ceremony.
But IOC officials and Rio organizers maintain that preparations remain on track and the games will be a success.
"The last stretch is always the most difficult one, and of course there are challenges," IOC President Thomas Bach said. "But I think the organizing committee has shown in the last year which great progress they made and, with the ongoing solidarity of the IOC and the international federations, we are very confident that it will be excellent games."
Speaking to reporters in Ancient Olympia, Bach played down concerns the political crisis could harm the games, saying preparations are already at an operational phase, "and therefore we can concentrate now together with the organizing committee on the delivery."
Referring to concerns over water pollution in areas where sailing and rowing events will be held, Bach said the city and organizing committee have made strenuous efforts "and what we see now is that in the bay, about 60 percent of the surface is clean."
"Without the Olympic Games it would be zero," he added. "We are very confident that the competition area for the athletes will offer safe and fair conditions."
