Olympic flame handed over to Tokyo
On Thursday, the Olympic flame handover ceremony took place behind closed doors at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.
Watch LIVE GREEK TV including full GREEK SPORTS coverage with Go Greek TV!
Despite the Greek leg of the torch relay being called off due to the coronavirus pandemic, the handover ceremony still took place as scheduled. In a stadium that was closed off to spectators, Eleftherios Petrounias ran a lap around the stadium with the torch before passing it to Ekaterini Stefanidi. These two Greek Olympic gold medalists from Rio 2016 will be looking to defend their titles in Tokyo.
Stefanidi lit a cauldron, and the flame was then handed to Naoko Imoto, a Japanese former swimmer. Imoto actually lives in Greece and for that reason was chosen at the last minute to represent Japan in this ceremony, given the current travel difficulties throughout the world.
The Olympics are still scheduled to be held in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9.
