ATHENS, Reuter: A 75strong Seoul delegation arrived on Sunday to collect the Olympic torch for next month’s games in the South Korean Capital.
“Our motto in Seoul is ‘Harmony and Progress’ and we are absolutely convinced today that these games can truly mean harmony and progress for all mankind,” Kim Ock Jin, Secretary General of the Seoul Olympic Organising Committee, told a press conference.
The Olympic flame will be lit from the sun’s rays on Tuesday at the altar of Zeus in Ancient Olympia, in the Peloponnese, Where the games were held in antiquity. A dress rehearsal of the lighting ceremony will take place on Monday.
The torch, containing the flame, will be carried 358 kms to the pan Athenian stadium in Athens by a relay of runners.
On Thursday evening it will be handed over to Mayor Kim by the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Lambis NikoTaou at a gala ceremony,
Following a 30hour flight from Athens Airport, the torch will arrive at the semitropical island of Cheju, located at the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula.
Nearly 21,000 people will participate in carrying the Olympic torch from Cheju to the Olympic Stadium in Seoul for the ‘opening ceremony on September 17. The 4,2000km torch relay across South Korea, which will last 22 days will be carried out by runners, ships and cars.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 26, 1988
