With the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo just around the corner, the news is already beginning to fire up about the big summer event. One major event, the lighting of the Olympic flame and its journey to the host nation for the Olympic Games. A Gold Medalist from the 2016 Olympics, Anna Korakaki, will be honoring her country of Greece by being the first to bear the torch after it is lit.

Gold Medalist Shooter Anna Korakaki First to Bear the Summer Olympic Torch

Gold Medalist Shooter Anna Korakaki First to Bear the Summer Olympic Torch

Anna’s bearing of the Olympic Torch is a first in a number of ways. This will be Anna’s first time bearing the torch for her country. The Hellenic Olympic Committee selected Anna for the honor following her performance in the 2016 Olympics in Rio where she took the Gold Medal in the Women’s 25m Pistol. Anna also took a second Bronze medal the same year in the Women’s 10m Air pistol competition.

Anna will also be the first woman in history to take the first leg of the Olympic torch relay which will begin from her home country of Greece. The flame is traditionally lit at the Temple of Hera where a ceremony is performed by a high priestess who uses a parabolic mirror to ignite the flame. This is obviously done because the ancient Greeks hadn’t yet discovered gun powder or HEI (high-explosive incendiary) rounds.

The Traditional Lighting of the Torch Using a Parabolic Mirror

On March 12, 2020, the torch will travel with Anna for about 100 meters through the Stadium of the original ancient Olympics in Olympia Greece to meet a relay runner. Once Anna hands off the torch to this runner this will spark a week-long relay across Greece. The torch will eventually make its way to Tokyo, Japan where another gold medalist Katerina Stefanidi will be the last runner to carry the flame.

The Olympic Gold medalist is quite excited for the event next month having the following to say about carrying the torch in a quote from a Hellenic Olympic Committee press release:

It’s a great honor for me. I am thrilled and I think the feelings will get even more intense after that time in Ancient Olympia. I am looking forward to living that moment and I’m sure it will remain engraved in my mind and heart for the rest of my life.

While the shooting has only been an Olympic sport since the start of the modern games, it has since firmly cemented its place as a full-fledged Olympic Sport eventually adding multiple disciplines.  The Olympics often bring out the best that mankind has to offer – combining martial skill with the finest implements known to man in order to perform great feats of skill. I am more than happy to see an Olympic Gold medalist in shooting be the first to take the flame.