OLYMPIA, Greece, 26 March 2004 — Olympic organizers, facing a race against the clock to get ready for the Athens Games, heaved a sigh of relief yesterday when the Olympic torch ceremony went off on cue.

Security was tight around the ruins of Ancient Olympia, where the Games were born in 776 BC, when Olympic high priestess Thalia Prokopiou, a 32-year-old actress performing for the third time, summoned the sacred light of Apollo, with the help of a parabolic polished metal mirror.

Athens is racing to get venues ready following delays in the construction of key Olympic sites and transport networks.

The last time the flame was lit first time was for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

The ceremony was preceded by an address from the International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge and organizing committee President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki.

The torch relay begins with a seven-day trip through southern Greece.

Greek former javelin medalist Costas Gatsioudis was the first torch-bearer, handing over to Russian swimmer Alexander Popov.

Popov won two sprint gold medals at the 1992 Olympics, two in 1996 and a silver in 2000.

Other prominent runners on the first few days include Prince Albert of Monaco, who took part in former Winter Olympics, and legendary pole vaulter Sergei Bubka.

The flame will burn outside the marble Panathenian stadium, site of the first modern games, until June 4 when it will embark on a world journey.

The torch relay, established at the Berlin Games in 1936, will for the first time visit all five continents on a 78-day journey starting with the Australian city of Sydney where the Games were held four years ago.

The metal and wood torch, in the shape of an olive leaf, will be taken to Africa and Latin America for the first time.

The torch will visit all previous Olympic cities plus Beijing, venue for the 2008 Games, Brussels, Cairo, Cape Town, Geneva, Istanbul, Kiev, Lausanne, New Delhi, New York, Nicosia, Rio de Janeiro and Sofia.

The torch will be carried on trains, planes, automobiles and even elephants in Delhi and camels in Cairo.

And the guessing game over who will light the flame in the Olympic cauldron on August 13 has already started.

A James Bond-style rocketman lifted off to light the flame at the Los Angeles Games in 1984 and an archer lit the flame at Barcelona in 1992 although it looked as if his flaming arrow actually missed the cauldron.