In Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic Games, the flame that will burn through the Olympics in Sydney, was lit on May 10. It is lit by a Greek actress from a curved mirror that focuses the rays of the sun, to light the first torch. In case it is cloudy on the day, they have a rehearsal the day before, and keep that flame burning. A good thing they do, because this year, there wasn't enough sun on the proper day, and they had to use the flame from the rehearsal. Then the flame is carried by many Greek runners, all the way from Olympia to Athens (the capital of Greece). This takes ten days.

The Olympic torch was officially handed to Sydney Games officials early on 21 May before leaving Greece on the long relay. In a brief ceremony on a warm Athens evening, the torch entered the Panaphinaikon Stadium carried by Greek long jump champion Voula Tsiamita. Only 400 people, most of them Australian, saw the 30-minute ceremony because of damage to the stadium in the last Athens earthquake. She entered the stadium followed by about 100 school children carrying the flags of all the Olympic nations. Surrounded by actresses playing the roles of high priestesses, Tsiamita lit a cauldron atop a gold pillar.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee president, Mr Lambis Nikolaou, then lit his torch from the cauldron and told the crowd that Sydney would honour the flame's symbol of friendship. It was handed to the Australians while the Australian national anthem was played.

The flame was transferred to two miners' lanterns, which were escorted by police to Athens airport, where they boarded a chartered jet bound for Guam.