Sawt Falasteen - 2026 Winter Olympics flame lands in Italy

The flame arrived at Rome's Fiumicino airport at around 1700 local time (1600 GMT) after it was handed to the host city organisers in an earlier ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, where the first modern Olympics were revived in 1896.

It was carried off the airplane at 1725 local time (1625 GMT) by Italian tennis player Jasmine Paolini, doubles champion at last year's Summer Olympics in Paris, and president of the Milan-Cortina organising committee Giovanni Malago.

The flame will then be presented to the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, at his official residence the Quirinal Palace, where it will spend the night.

A torch-lighting ceremony is scheduled for Friday morning at the Quirinal Palace in the presence of International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry.

The torch relay itself begins on Saturday in Rome at the Stadio dei Marmi at the foot of the Olympic Stadium, passing in the first leg through some of the Italian capital's most famous landmarks like St. Peter's Square, the Pantheon, the ancient Imperial Forum, and the Colosseum.

Carried in total by 10,001 torchbearers, the torch will travel 12,000 kilometres over 63 days, passing through more than 300 cities across Italy before arriving in Milan on February 5, the day before the opening ceremony at the city's San Siro football stadium.

The Winter Olympics take place over February 6-22 with the Paralympic Winter Games following from March 6-15.

They mark a return to its spiritual home of the Alps after a long spell of being held in places without a strong tradition of winter sports.

As with many past Olympics the Games are experiencing some delays to the construction of venues, with a leading International Ski Federation (FIS) official saying this week the body was worried about delays at the site for the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and National Hockey League (NHL) have also expressed concerns about delays in the construction of the Games' main ice hockey arena on the outskirts of Milan.

Local organisers insist the venues will be ready in time.

burs-jph/ea

X.Habash--SF-PST