More than 150 police officers and athletes yesterday began a torch-run in which the Special Olympics flame will be carried along a 15,000 km route from Athens to Dublin in time for the opening ceremony of the games on June 21st.
The three torches will from today follow separate routes, taking in 15 capital cities, before converging on Brussels. From there the torch-run will continue through Britain before reaching Bangor, Co Down, in just over a week's time.
The torch will be met by members of the Garda Síochána and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, who will help to carry the flame through more than 130 towns and villages in advance of the opening ceremony.
The Deputy Garda Commissioner, Mr Peter Fitzgerald, and the Assistant Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Mr Duncan McCausland, were present at yesterday's torch-lighting ceremony.
Mr Fitzgerald said that the torch-run was a powerful illustration of how the police forces from the North and the South could work together. "This is very much a joint effort. Today, for example, there are five members of the Garda Síochána and five members of the PSNI. When we bring the flame back to Ireland, the fund-raising will be mostly organised by gardaí or the PSNI. It will be people from both sides running in what's very much a team effort."
The arrival of the flame in Ireland will be marked by a series of community runs, public concerts, sporting and fund-raising events to celebrate the hosting of the biggest sporting event in the world this year.
To mark the first stage of the torch-run yesterday, 160 police officers and Special Olympics athletes carried the "Flame of Hope" through the streets of Athens past some of the city's best-known monuments. At the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, the flame was handed to presidential guards for safekeeping until today, when it begins its journey to Dublin.
The torch-run is being headed by Capt Michael Teem, of the Raleigh (North Carolina) Police Department, and the group includes runners from all 50 US states, nine Canadian provinces and 28 countries. Accepting the torch yesterday, Capt Teem said: "We proudly receive the flame of hope and will guard it and protect it until we can deliver it safe and lit, not only in spirit, but in our hearts as well."
The three torches will not move continuously from Athens, but will stop off at capital cities along the route, including Paris, Budapest, Helsinki and London.
When the flame arrives in Croke Park on June 21st for the opening ceremony, it will be handed to a Special Olympics athlete, who will light a gas cauldron which will burn for the duration of the games.
The torch, designed by Mr Noel Finnerty, of Newbridge Silverware, consists of a handle made from bog oak inlaid with sterling silver disks engraved with sporting icons.
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, said yesterday that the games had already "captured the imagination of the Irish people". They would likewise "capture the imagination of the people of Europe" as the flame travelled across the continent.
The torch-run is one of the Special Olympics' biggest fund-raisers. It helped to raise more than €20 million last year for the movement. In 2002, some 85,000 police officers carried the flames across 35 countries, raising awareness of disability issues and funds for the games.