Olympic Torch to Travel Globe for 2004 Games

LAUSANNE, Switzerland —  The International Olympic Committee on Friday approved for the 2004 Summer Games what was described as a “global relay route” for the Olympic torch. For the first time, the torch will be carried in Africa and South America -- as well as Los Angeles, site of two previous Summer Olympics.

Details of the torch’s arrival in Los Angeles, and the other cities that have previously staged the Summer Games, have yet to be completed. The Games were held in L.A. in 1932 and 1984.

The torch will be lighted in May 2004 by the sun’s rays, according to tradition, in Olympia, Greece, where the ancient Olympic Games were staged. It will travel the world for 35 days, visiting each of the five continents represented by the Olympic rings and 27 cities en route back to Greece, and then Athens, and finally the Olympic Stadium, for the opening of the 2004 Games on Aug. 13.

Besides previous Games cities, destinations include the 2008 Summer Games site, Beijing, as well as Cairo, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro, Nicosia and Lausanne, the IOC’s base, and New York, home of the United Nations. That New York is bidding for the 2012 Summer Games, officials said, proved incidental in route planning.