Olympic flame gets closer to the Marvelous City
After running through the country, Rio 2016 Olympic flame is pretty close to its final destination – the Marvelous City, or Cidade Maravilhosa – Rio de Janeiro.
The flame left São Paulo state on Wednesday, directly towards the neighbouring state of Rio de Janeiro (same name as its biggest city). Its last stop in São Paulo was the beach town Ubatuba.
A few days before its departure from São Paulo, the Olympic flame met the “king of soccer” Pelé, at the museum in Santos, built in honour of the three-time FIFA World Cup champion.
The flame arrived in Rio de Janeiro state on Wednesday and was carried through the cities of Paraty and Angra dos Reis, about 150 kilometres from the Olympic host city.
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The flame will course through another 40 cities in the state before it lands in its final geographic stop on August 4, one day prior to the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony at the Maracanã Stadium, where the Olympic cauldron will be lit, signalling the start of the Games.
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At the end of the torch relay, one of the most important symbols of the Games will have been carried by 12,000 people in Brazil, including local and foreign sports personalities (including Canada’s Bruny Surin and artists, through over 300 cities of the all 27 states of the country.
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Through 95 days, the flame will have run 20,000 kilometres across land and 16,000 kilometres by air.
The Olympic flame;s route, since it left Athens in May:
