Via foot and Ferrari, ski and ship, the route of the 2006 Olympic Torch Relay is now public following a Rome unveiling...
The Organising Committee for the XX Olympic Winter Games – Torino 2006 (TOROC) today presented its plans for the Torino 2006 Olympic Torch Relay.
The relay will see 10,001 torchbearers transport the Olympic flame from Olympia in Greece to Rome and then around Italy, visiting 140 cities and all of Italy’s regions, before finally arriving in the Stadio Communale in Torino on 10 February 2006 to mark the opening of the XX Olympic Winter Games – Torino 2006.
Key Dates
The Olympic Torch Relay will start on 27 November 2005 in Olympia, Greece, where the ancient Olympic Games were celebrated from 776 B.C. by the Greeks. The Priestess, who lights the flame, will pass it to the first torchbearer, and the flame will begin to make its way to Italy. On 8 December 2005, the relay will begin in the Piazza del Quirinale in Rome, where the President of the Republic of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, will light the torch for the first torchbearer on Italian soil, Stefano Baldini – gold medallist in the marathon at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. The Olympic flame will then arrive at the Opening Ceremony of the Torino Games on 10 February 2006.
Route And Torchbearers
The Olympic Torch Relay will spend 64 days touring the length and breadth of Italy. It will cover a total distance of 11,300 km, visiting 140 cities, 107 provinces and all of Italy’s regions. There are expected to be many well-known personalities from the worlds of sport, business and culture participating in the Olympic Torch Relay among the 10,001 torchbearers that will carry the flame to Torinon. Among the personalities are expected to be Giorgio Armani, Jarno Trulli, Juri Chechi and all of Italy’s Olympic gold medallists from the last two editions of the Games.
Former Winter Olympic Host Cities
The Torino 2006 Olympic Torch Relay will also visit the host cities of two former Olympic Winter Games: Cortina D’Ampezzo and Albertville, in France. The Olympic Torch Relay will reach Cortina on 26 January 2006, exactly 50 years after the flame reached Cortina in 1956 to open the VII Olympic Winter Games. The Olympic flame will reach Albertville on 6 February 2006 - Albertville was the host city for the XVI Olympic Winter Games.
IOC
