No fans as Olympics torch-lighting holds Thursday

The 2020 Olympics torch-lighting ceremony will take place on Thursday but behind closed doors and no fans no thanks to coronavirus.

The Greek Olympic Committee announced on Monday that the torch-lighting ceremony – the symbolic start of each Olympic Games – will be staged at a scaled-down, behind-closed-doors event due to the ongoing fears over the spread of coronavirus in the region.

The Committee announced the Olympic torch will be lit during a smaller-scale ceremony in ancient Olympia on Thursday,

March 12 before heading off on a seven-day relay, ending in an official handover ceremony in Greece on March 19.

However, the mayor of Olympia has requested to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the ceremony be pushed back to May.

‘The danger of staging the torch lighting with only a handful of spectators, limited number of officials and delegations, and under a cloud of fear and concern will damage the greatness and prestige of this event,’ said mayor Giorgos Georgiopoulos said in his letter to the IOC.

‘With a sense of responsibility, the municipal authority, all parties of the city council of Ancient Olympia, in order to secure the global radiance of the event asks the IOC which has the exclusive responsibility of organizing it to consider  the possibility of moving the torch lighting ceremony to May of this year.’

The Greek government announced a two-week ban on sporting events with spectators following a rise in confirmed coronavirus cases in the country.

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The scale of the outbreak in Japan saw senior International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound describe the disease as ‘the new war’ threatening Tokyo 2020 and he warned the Games may have to be cancelled if the virus was still around by May.