ATHENS, Dec 4 (Reuters) – Milano-Cortina Winter Games organisers received the Olympic flame on Thursday in a ceremony at Athens’ Panathenaic Stadium, as they prepare for a 63-day torch relay designed to spark excitement across Italy before the Olympics in February.

In a scaled-down event due to heavy rain warnings, as was the case when the flame was lit in ancient Olympia last week, Milano-Cortina Games organising chief Giovanni Malago was handed the flame inside the vast marble-clad stadium just over two months before the opening ceremony on February 6.

“Italy is proud of its Olympic heritage … as we get ready to write the next chapter in our Olympic story,” said Malago, with only a handful of officials and spectators present due to the weather restrictions on a dry, yet overcast morni

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