Sunday, 5 November 2017

Olympic Flame

Winter Olympics 2018
Pyeongchang South Korea
(Not to be confused with Pyongyang, captial of North Korea)

On 24th October the Olympic flame was lit once again and the torch relay began which will end on February 9th in South Korea, only 80kms from its border with the North.

The flame, lit in ancient Olympia at the 2,600 year old Temple of Hera on the 24th, has been carried through Greece to Athens.   The official handover ceremony took place in the Panathenaic Stadium.  The flame arrived in Korea on 1 November and will have a 2018km journey before reaching Pyeongchang.

Two northern Korean figure skaters will take part in these winter Olympics, along with athletes from 83 other nations, at the moment.  The Koreans are calling these games the 'Olympic Games of Peace and Harmony.  Lets hope they do take place in peace, friendship and harmony.



Lighting of the flame at Ancient Olympia, the 'priestesses' in their summer gear




The torch relay begins, Korean footballer Park Ji-Sung in his winter garb

I missed all of this.  When you avoid the bad news you also miss out on the good news.  The week long torch relay went way up into Northern Greece before coming down to Athens and 'overnighting'  on the Acropolis.

The torch relay for the 2004 Athens summer Olympics came to Poros and one of our Olympic champions, a local rower, received the flame on behalf of the islanders.



Soohorang, the white tiger,  mascot for the Korean Olympics

Sooho is the Korean word for Protection


Mascots for the 2004 Athens summer Olympics 
Not many will remember these two















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9 comments:

  1. Rachel Phillips5 November 2017 at 05:51

    Interesting post again Linda. I like the Winter Olympics and look forward to them coming round again.

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    1. local alien5 November 2017 at 06:10

      Glad to hear from you Rachel. I had forgotten all about the winter Olympics till I saw an article online. Glad I did. I enjoy all these world competitions.
      Hope all is well, especially your trip

      Delete
    2. Rachel Phillips5 November 2017 at 06:20

      Thanks Linda. All is well. I will maybe write a new post from London tonight.

      Delete
  2. Cro Magnon5 November 2017 at 20:57

    In some ways I prefer the Winter Olympics. Unfortunately the most exciting (dangerous) sports usually get the least exposure.

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    Replies
    1. local alien6 November 2017 at 11:24

      Greece isn't big on winter sports but we do get a good coverage on the sports channels. I agree, the most exciting are the best to watch. Hope they do give us a good show. It'll help us to get thru freezing February!!

      Delete
  3. angela6 November 2017 at 01:38

    Let’s hope the world is able to get together in peace and have fun contesting in the sports
    Somehow it doesn’t look good

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  4. local alien6 November 2017 at 11:26

    Korea isn't the best country to hold these games right now. Hope they all calm down

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  5. Kirrie6 November 2017 at 11:52

    Just finished 4 night shifts.
    In dead of night unusually all patients asleep, NHS blocks us viewing UK property sites. Well we had huge fun viewing spitogatos . Alledgedly hours spent looking at little flats/crash pads with gardens. One in Giza had Huge garden 2 olive trees, owners had kept marble sink n splash back. Ok bathroom Greek . Greece needs a house doctor every photo amateur n washing hung everywhere,buckets dirty bathrooms. No sign of vases of roses or being stage managed like we do , I'e posh magazines on coffee table fresh flowers everywhere. Outside space glasses n champagne.
    One I love is only 12000 euros, olive trees 1 bedroom patio doors would be a fab crash pad!.Greek tax for the flat any idea?. Every flat shown has the blinds down grrrr the main thing I wan,t to see is outside space or balcony. All flats look dark as blinds down why?.
    Prob I just don't understand. Someone said little gardens account for flat size more yearly tax. Young ones can,t afford that why a glut of little flats. How much is tax on a 12000 flat?.
    Cheapest flat here 125000.
    Still doing research for crash pad. 15 days until Greece 😂😀😂😀😂🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷. Time does finally move!..


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    Replies
    1. local alien9 November 2017 at 04:52

      House tax? Only know our yearly one which is 500 a year. Depends on area. We are rural. No Greek can afford to buy a house unless serious family money. They sell for nothing to avoid a few hundred euros tax. If you don't pay you lose the house. If you haven't got a job you can't pay.

      Delete

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