ATHENS, June 9 -- The Flame of Hope, Faith and Love for this summer's Special Olympics World Games Athens 2011 was lit on Thursday at the archaeological site of Pnyx under the Acropolis hill in a ritual ceremony held in the tradition of the Lighting of the Flame for Olympic Games.

Sixteen days before the opening ceremony of the Games, on 11:43 a.m. local hour at the meeting place of the Athens first democratic assembly 23 centuries ago, Special Olympics athlete Iliana Simeonidou in the role of the High Priestess lit the flame out of a concave mirror using the sun's rays.

The ceremony was conducted in a similar way to the ceremony traditionally held at Olympia in western Greece, where the first Olympic Games were organized 23 centuries ago.

Following a dance performance by Greek Special Olympic athletes and dancers playing the roles of priestesses, the High Priestess lit the torch with the Flame and handed it over to President of the Greek Organizing Committee of the Games Joanna Despotopoulou.

She passed it to the first torchbearers, George Papadopoulos and Georgia Yerakari, kicking off a torch relay that will reach Instanbul, Cyprus and dozens cities across Greece before returning to Athens for the opening ceremony on June 25 at Panathinaikon Stadium, where the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896.

The Athens 2011 World Summer Special Olympics will run to July 4 with the participation of over 7,000 athletes, among them over 130 Chinese, who will compete in 22 sports in 30 venues.

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