After an 11-hour flight from Athens, Greece, the Olympic torch landed at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport Tuesday on a Delta Air Lines jumbo jet painted with the words “The Soaring Spirit”, and pictures of American speedskater Bonnie Blair, ski jumper Ryan Heckman and luger Duncan Kennedy.
Following a welcoming ceremony, Muhammad Ali sent the Olympic torch on its two-month journey to the Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Billy Payne, who led Atlanta’s effort to stage the 1996 Summer Games, said, “this precious, magical flame can illuminate us all with its hope of a brighter future. In its light, you can see the promise of a world united, not divided”.
The torch relay will visit 80 American cities with about 11,500 people carrying it more than 13,500 miles before its arrival in Utah for the Feb. 8 Opening Ceremony.
Ali, who lit the flame at the Atlanta Games, passed the torch to figure skater Peggy Fleming, who won a gold medal in figure skating in 1968, who then carried the flame on the first leg of its journey through Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta.
A dozen trumpeters from the Salt Lake City organizing committee dressed in white and purple cowboy hats and dusters greeted the flame.
The torch will be airborne three more times on its route to Utah; from Miami to Mobile, Ala. on Sunday, from Milwaukee to Lansing, Michigan on Jan. 6; and from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska and then to Spokane, Wash. on Jan. 24.
