Torch relay begins epic journey
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- The 2004 Olympic torch has arrived in Australia -- host of the 2000 games -- for the start of a mammoth relay journey spanning 33 cities in 27 countries on five continents.
The torch touched down in Sydney early Friday morning aboard a specially decorated B747 airliner named Zeus.
After passing through the hands of 3,600 runners, the flame will return to Greece for the start of the Olympics, with a runner carrying it into the Athens Olympic stadium on August 13.
Australian athlete Cathy Freeman, who lit the cauldron in Sydney in 2000 and won a gold medal in the 400-meter event, was the first of 277 Australians to carry the torch.
Cheered on by hundreds of spectators, Freeman left the steps of the Sydney Opera House Friday morning and set off towards Bondi beach.
Later in the day, the torch was welcomed by Australia's Greek community in the Sydney bayside suburb of Brighton-le-Sands.
From Sydney, the torch relay will move to Melbourne (the 1956 Olympic city), before departing for Tokyo and then every other city that has hosted the summer Olympics, as well as 2008 host Beijing.
It will also pass through cities with special symbolic meaning, such as Brussels, heart of the European Union, and Lausanne, seat of the International Olympic Committee and Olympic Museum.
All told, the torch is travelling for 78,000 kilometers (47,000 miles) in 78 days. For the first time, the torch relay will bring the flame to Africa and Latin America.
