The Olympic flame arrived in Beijing on Wednesday amid calls from overseas critics for a boycott of the February 4-20 Winter Games. Beijing’s Communist Party Secretary Cai Qi, the top official in the Chinese capital, received the flame at a closely-guarded airport ceremony. Beijing successfully hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008, although the event failed […]
![Dancers perform during the Olympic flame handover ceremony at Panathinean stadium in Athens, Tuesday. The flame will be transported by torch relay to Beijing, China, which will host the February 4-20, 2022 Winter Olympics. [AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/AP21292376064639-320x200.jpg)
Human rights activists Tuesday called on governments, sponsors and athletes to boycott what they called China’s “genocide games.”
![Flame handover ceremony in Athens for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics - Panathenaic Stadium, Athens, Greece on Tuesday. Greece's Water Polo Olympic Champion Evi Moraitidou passes an olive branch to China's Olympic Skiing Champion Li Nina during the ceremony/ [Louiza Vradi/Reuters]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/handover_ceremony_flame_olympics_reuters-320x200.jpg)
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics organizers on Tuesday received the Olympic flame at a heavily-guarded Panathenaic stadium in central Athens as human rights activists called on a boycott of the Games over China’s human rights record.
![Executive Director at the International Tibet Network Mandie McKeown, Campaigns Director at Students for a Free Tibet Pema Doma, and Program and Advocacy Manager at the World Uyghur Congress Zumretay Arkin take part in a news conference voicing opposition to the Beijing Winter Olympics in Athens, Greece, on Tuesday. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/International_Tibet_Network_china_activists_olympics_reuters-320x200.jpg)
Hours before Tuesday’s handover of the Olympic flame for the 2022 Winter Olympics, human rights activists urged international governments, sponsors and athletes to boycott what they called China’s “genocide games.”
Greek torch bearer Ioannis Melissanidis, left, Olympic gold medalist in Gymnastics, passes the flame to Christos Volikakis, world Champion in Cycling, in front of ancient Parthenon temple atop of the Acropolis Hill in Athens, on Tuesday.
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A lawyer representing the student activists detained on the Acropolis for protesting against the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics said on Monday they “deserve praise instead of arrests and handcuffs.”
The Beijing 2022 Olympics flame was lit at Greece’s ancient Olympia on Monday, just over 100 days before the start of the Games in February.
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The Beijing 2022 Olympics flame was lit at Greece’s ancient Olympia on Monday, just over 100 days before the start of the Games in February, as a handful of Tibetan protesters attempted to protest inside the ancient site.
The Lighting of the Olympic Flame for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games is taking place on Monday morning at Ancient Olympia and ekathimerini.com is taking you there live.
![Actresses dance during a ceremony to mark the inauguration of the renovated International Olympic Academy premises, in Ancient Olympia, southwestern Greece, Sunday. [AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/AP21290613810480-320x200.jpg)
A sunburst at the overcast birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in Greece was too short-lived to light the backup flame for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at Sunday’s dress rehearsal.
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Two women attempted to hang a banner from the Acropolis in Athens Sunday morning in protest at the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, and were detained by Greek police.
The Olympic Flame ceremony of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games will be held at the ancient site of Olympia in Greece this Monday, October 18, and will be handed over to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics at a ceremony in the Panathenaic Stadium in Greece on Tuesday, October 19.
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will come into sharp focus with the ceremonial torch-lighting ceremony in Greece’s ancient Olympia on Monday but opposition to the Games continues to grow more vocal.
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics torch lighting ceremony will be held without spectators in Greece’s ancient Olympia on October 18 and the flame will depart for China the very next day, Greek officials have said.
The Greek team won its 10th medal at the Tokyo Paralympic on Saturday after boccia champions Grigoris Polychronidis, Anna Ntenta and Anastasia Pyrgioti took bronze in the BC3 mixed doubles, prevailing 7-0 over Hong Kong.
Greece’s Athanasios Ghavelas and guide Sotirios Gkaragkanis celebrate after setting a new world record and winning gold at Men’s 100m in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, on Thursday.
