ANTWERP, Belgium, 22 June 2004 — The Olympic flame began its final sprint back toward Greece yesterday, docking in Europe in the Belgian port city of Antwerp, which hosted the Games in 1920.
The torch, which will return to Greece on July 9 ahead of the Aug. 13-29 Athens Games, was set to be borne aloft by a running relay of 120 people along a 48km route through the diamond capital.
Gaston Roelandts, the 3,000m steeplechase champion in the 1964 Tokyo Games, was to kick off the Belgian leg of the flame’s world tour which arrived from the United States. Cycling legend Eddy Merckx was also among the runners.
Today the flame arrives in Brussels, where it will notably visit the Grand Place in the heart of the city, as well as stopping off at the Schuman roundabout in the EU district on the Belgian capital.
Organizers Step Up Campaign to Sell Millions of Unsold Tickets
Athens 2004 Olympics organizers ATHOC said yesterday that they are stepping up their advertising campaign as some 3.4 million tickets for the Games which begin in 53 days remain unsold.
A major international advertising campaign will run on television networks and newspapers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany ahead of the Aug. 13-29 Games.
Fears of terrorist attacks, unfinished construction and exorbitant hotel prices have failed to attract foreign tourists leaving 3.4 million of the 5.2 million tickets issued still unsold.
