The Weather Was A Total Buzzkill During The Olympic Torch Lighting Ceremony

We live in an age of non-stop technological progress, and everyone feels like we have to move on from the past. But sometimes, the past is the coolest thing, and I think a good example of that is the way they light the Olympic torch.

The Olympic torch relay for the 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo got underway on Wednesday, and it started, as it always does, in Greece. 

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Unfortunately, the weather had to come along, and harsh everyone's Olympic mellow.

Every Olympic year, the torch is lit using a concave mirror that focuses the sun.

It looks a little something like this.

That's way better than lighting it with a disposable Bic or off the tip of some dude's cigarette, right?

Well, here's the thing: that video wasn't actually from the torch lighting. According to Reuters, that was a video from a rehearsal that happened earlier this week.

Why would they do that?

Because the weather was crappy on Wednesday for the actual torch-lighting ceremony, it was moved inside. Of course, it's much harder to light a torch using the focused energy of the sun when you're inside, and it's not sunny outside.

High Priestess Mary Mina hands over the Olympic Flame to torchbearer Petros Gaidatzis during the lighting ceremony of the Olympic Flame for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)

However, organizers were ready for this and had prepared a backup flame from that rehearsal earlier in the week.

If I were planning this, the backup plan would've just been the aforementioned Bic, but thankfully, I'm not planning it.

Even with the weather-caused audible, the torch relay got underway with Greek rower Petros Gaidatzis first to take it. However, it wasn't long before he was joined by Italian cross-country skiing medalist Stefania Belmondo.