Olympia (Greece) (AFP) - New International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Kirsty Coventry fought back tears on Wednesday as she urged nations to come together in the 2026 Winter Games, as the torch relay set off from ancient Olympia in Greece.

Addressing guests during the torch ceremony at the Olympia archaeological museum, as the first woman to head the Olympic movement, a tearful Coventry stressed the power of sport to unite.

“I wasn’t supposed to get emotional, but this place is very special,” the 42-year-old Zimbabwean, who is also the first African to lead the IOC, added to applause.

“In a divided world that we live in today, the Games hold a truly symbolic place. It is our duty, our responsibility, to ensure that the athletes from around the world can come together peacefully,” she said.

The former swimmer and Africa’s most successful Olympic athlete with seven medals from Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, Coventry repeatedly veered from her prepared speech to stress her emotional connection to the Games.

“The Olympic Games will always continue to exist, to break down walls that are put in our way,” said Coventry, who was elected 10th IOC chief in March.

“The flame we light today, carries not just the hopes of the athletes, but the dreams of all of those who believe in the power of sport,” she added.

- ‘Best of humanity’ -

She later told reporters that the Olympics bring out “the best of humanity”.

“We have to really fight very hard to ensure that the Olympic movement and the field of play remains neutral for all athletes to be able to compete, and for them to live out their childhood dreams,” she said.

The torch was carried initially by Greek rower Petros Gaidatzis, a bronze medallist in Paris 2024, and then jointly with Italian cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo, a two-time Olympic champion, as the relay began the countdown to the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, which will open on February 6.

The pair ran from the museum to the grove in Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Games, where the heart of modern Olympics founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin is kept, and handed over the torch to Italian luge great Armin Zoeggeler, another double Olympic champion.

The flame ceremony was flanked by sculptures from the Temple of Zeus, the patron god of the ancient Olympics – and also rain.

The ceremony to light the Olympic flame is usually held among the ruins of the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, near the stadium where the Olympics were born in 776 BC.

But a rainy weather forecast – which proved mistaken – raised concerns that the sun’s rays would not be able to sufficiently heat up the parabolic mirror used by actresses dressed as ancient priestesses to light the flame.

That forced organisers to head indoors for Wednesday’s ceremony where they used a flame lit on Monday, during an outdoor rehearsal under the sun.

In addition to the venue change, organisers also had to switch the first runner after their original choice – Greek-American alpine ski racer AJ Ginnis – was injured during training last week.

Following a December 4 handover ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, where the first modern Olympics were revived in 1896, the flame will head to Rome for a 63-day, 12,000-kilometre (7,500-mile) course through Italy’s major cities and the archaeological site of Pompeii.

- ‘Classical heritage’ -

Giovanni Malago, President of the Organising Committee for Milano-Cortina, said the relay will respect the “classical heritage” of Greece and Italy by passing through sites such as Rome’s imperial monuments, Pompeii and parts of Magna Graecia.

The Games themselves will take place at various venues spanning a vast area from Milan to the Dolomite mountains in Italy’s north-east.

Ice sports will be held in Milan while Bormio and Cortina will host alpine skiing.

Across the Dolomites, the biathlon will be in Anterselva and Nordic skiing in Val di Fiemme, with Livigno in the Italian Alps hosting snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

The Paralympic Winter Games will be held from March 6-15.

More than 90 percent of Italy’s ski slopes use artificial snowmaking systems, according to an April report by Legambiente, and organisers of the Milan-Cortina Games are stockpiling artificial snow, just in case.

A December 2024 study published in the International Journal of Climatology indicated snow cover in the Italian Alps had decreased by half in the past 100 years.