2000 Summer Olympics torch relay in 1936. The Flame is initiated by using a parabolic mirror that concentrates the sun's rays. However, due to some cloud cover on the day of the ceremony, there was insufficient sunlight to create the required level of heat. A backup, lit on the previous day during rehearsals, was used instead. The remainder of the ceremony could then take place. The relay always begins in Greece and travels from Olympia to Athens and the Panathenaic Stadium. The Hellenic Olympic Committee arranged for the torch to be taken to several Greek islands, a first in the history of Olympic relays. The
2002 Winter Olympics torch relay happening during the ceremony. The weekend prior to the lighting ceremony, the flame held in the clay urn had been lit using the parabolic mirror and the sun's rays in case of this situation. Following the ceremony, a two-day Greek torch relay carried the flame to the Panathenian stadium in Athens, Greece, where it burned in a cauldron for two weeks. On December 3, 2001, a Greek skier, Thanassis Tsailas, lit a 2002 Olympic torch from a flame in the cauldron, which in turn was used to light a ceremonial lantern. This lantern was then flown aboard the "Soaring Spirit"