The Olympic flame made a symbolic trip from Europe to Asia and back again on Tuesday when the Olympic global torch relay visited the Turkish city of Istanbul.
The first of 125 bearers to carry the torch in Istanbul was Turkey’s only Fifa-accredited female referee, Lale Orta.
After a journey along the shores of the Marmara Sea, by boat across the Bosporus Straight that divides Istanbul’s European and Asian sides, back across the straight via the Bosporus Bridge, the flame finished its day in Istanbul at the Dolmabahce Palace.
Among those who participated in the relay were weightlifter and three-time Olympic gold-medal winner Naim Suleymanoglu and Detroit Pistons basketball player Mehmet Okur, as well as various other athletes and musicians.
By the time the torch relay ends with the lighting of the cauldron during the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the flame will have travelled 78 000km and visited 34 cities in 26 countries. — Sapa-DPA