Tomorrow the Olympic flame will be lit near the Temple of Hera at the sacred site of Ancient Olympia in Greece.

This marks the start of the Olympic Flame’s journey to Tokyo and the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games on 24 July 2020.

With the slogan “Hope Lights Our Way”, the Olympic Torch Relay will undoubtedly have a special significance for all of us this year.

The ceremony itself is largely symbolic and is used to connect the Games of Ancient Greece to the modern Olympics. As the name suggests, the Olympic flame will be lit during the ceremony, which is held at the site of the first Olympic Games of Antiquity in Ancient Olympia, Greece.

This year Xanthi Georgiou will perform the role for the first time in Ancient Olympia. Georgiou lit the flame for the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Athens and performed as a dancer during the ceremony ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games 2008. The longest-serving High Priestess was Maria Moscholiou, who performed the role for four consecutive summer Games: Mexico 1968, Munich 1972, Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980.

The ceremony continues with a traditional dance on the hillside whilst music inspired by ancient Greece – composed and performed by Yiannis Psimadas – is played on harp, flute and percussion. As the dance draws to a close, the Estiada appears with a bowl and places it on a small altar. The high priestess repeats her prayer to Apollo, and the first torchbearer for Tokyo 2020 – the 2016 Olympic shooting pistol gold medallist Anna Korakaki – moves forward.

She will hold the burning torch in one hand and an olive branch in the other. As she departs, a young maiden steps forward to release a dove to symbolise peace. Korakaki will then leave the stadium and run to a nearby monument to Baron Pierre de Coubertin – the French nobleman who revived the Olympics in modern times. She will then pass the flame to a second runner, NOGUCHI Mizuki, the marathon gold medallist from Athens 2004, who is the first Japanese torch relay member to participate.