ROME (AP) — Olympic swimming champion Gregorio Paltrinieri and fellow Summer athletes started the torch relay for the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Saturday — marking exactly two months before the Feb. 6 opening ceremony.

Paltrinieri carried the sleek torch around the track of the statue-lined Stadio dei Marmi at the Foro Italico to begin a trek covering 12,000 kilometers (nearly 7,500 miles) that will wind its way through all 110 Italian provinces before reaching Milan’s San Siro Stadium for the opening ceremony.

“It’s a pleasure to be part of the Olympic movement even if it’s Winter Olympics,” Paltrinieri said.

In all, there will be 10,001 torch bearers.

At the end of the opening day, police said they stopped two groups of pro-Palestinian activists from coming into contact with the r

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