For more information, contact:
St. Louis Sports Commission
314-992-0687
dbray@stlouissports.org

ST. LOUIS TO HOST ATHENS 2004 INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY

AREA IS ONE OF ONLY FOUR U.S. CITIES ON THE GLOBAL ROUTE

ST. LOUIS – Dec. 4, 2003 – St. Louis, the first American city to host the Olympic Games, will be part of the first ever International Olympic Torch Relay in 2004. The ATHENS 2004 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games announced that the Gateway City will host the Athens Olympic Torch Relay June 17.

The Olympic flame will be carried approximately 30 miles through the St. Louis region while on its worldwide path to Athens and the Summer Games of the 28^th Olympiad. The relay day in St. Louis will culminate on Art Hill in Forest Park, where a grand evening celebration will take place to mark the centennial of the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis. The ATHENS 2004 Olympic Torch Relay is presented by Coca-Cola and Samsung.

"This is the first ever global journey for the torch in Olympic history and St. Louis is one of only four American cities to be chosen for the relay," said St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. "This is a great honor for St. Louis."

St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley said, "I am very pleased to welcome the official Olympic Torch and its bearers to St. Louis. What was a crowning moment for St. Louis in 1904 is now a worldwide spectacle that the metropolitan area is proud to participate in."

After being lit in ancient Olympia, Greece, the flame will travel through 34 cities in June and July as it journeys across the five land masses represented by the Olympic rings. All past sites of the Summer Games, as well as other selected cities, are on the route. For the first time, the relay will include the continents of South America and Africa. In the United States, the flame will visit Los Angeles, St. Louis, Atlanta and New York.

The complete route includes: Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Delhi, Cairo, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Atlanta, New York, Montreal, Antwerp, Brussels, Amsterdam, Geneva, Lausanne (Switzerland), Paris, London, Barcelona, Rome, Munich, Berlin, Stockholm, Helsinki, Kiev (Ukraine), Istanbul, Sofia (Bulgaria), and Nicosia (Cyprus). After covering those cities in 35 days, the relay returns to Greece for its final leg and the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games Aug. 13.

"For St. Louis to be included in this class of cities is something that's very special," said Frank Viverito, president of the St. Louis Sports Commission. "Our status as an Olympic host city is something that we take for granted - and many of us don't even realize. But when you look at the caliber of cities that appear on this list, you see that St. Louis is among exclusive company, and our Olympic legacy should be treasured and celebrated. We will certainly be reminded of that on June 17 when St. Louis is once again in the international spotlight."

During the relay, the flame will travel by plane between cities. It will then pass hand-to-hand, runner-to-runner in each host community, involving more than 3,600 torchbearers. The torchbearer selection process for the St. Louis leg of the relay will be announced in early 2004. Torchbearers will be chosen based on a set of criteria developed by ATHENS 2004. The flame’s route through St. Louis will be announced prior to its arrival. The theme for the 2004 Torch Relay is "Pass the Flame, Unite the World."

Locally, the relay will be part of Celebrate 2004 - the region's yearlong civic celebration commemorating the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark expedition, and the centennial of the World's Fair and Third Olympiad in St. Louis. In 1904, St. Louis became the first city to host the Olympics in the Western Hemisphere. Forest Park and Washington University served as the venues for most of the events. Since then, only two other American cities - Los Angeles and Atlanta - have hosted the Summer Games.

In addition to the Torch Relay, St. Louis will mark the 100^th anniversary of the ’04 Games by hosting the U.S. Olympic Women’s Marathon Trials April 3 and the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials June 9-13. The St. Louis Sports Commission is spearheading an effort to produce a Centennial Celebration for June 17, the night of the Torch Relay. Businesses and individuals interested in helping to fund the Celebration are encouraged to call the Sports Commission at 314-992-0683.

Planning for the Olympic Torch Relay in St. Louis is being conducted by a local task force that includes representatives from the City of St. Louis, Coca-Cola Central States, the Downtown St. Louis Partnership, St. Louis 2004, St. Louis County, the St. Louis Greek-American Community, the St. Louis Sports Commission, and Washington University.