Tokyo Olympic flame left flickering as virulent ill wind gathers pace
Officials stand firm in their belief that Olympic Games will go ahead in July but situation is currently beyond anyone’s control
It was a scene that could have been directed by Cecil B DeMille. On the stillest of Thursday mornings in Olympia, on the site of the ancient Games in Greece, a woman in traditional dress asked the gods for sacred silence. Then she bowed down and used the sun’s rays to light the Olympic flame for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The ceremony at the Temple of Hera, which is conducted before every Olympics, marks the start of the torch relay. But whether the flame will reach its final destination, Tokyo’s National Stadium, on 24 July is increasingly in doubt.