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Olympic flame passes through Melbourne

Thousands of people in Melbourne, home to the third-largest Greek community in the world, welcomed the Olympic flame yesterday on the first leg of a worldwide torch relay.

Expatriate and Australian-born Greeks were among the spectators who filled the streets in the city, site of the 1956 Olympics.

"We are all dreaming of Greece at this moment," said Emmanuel Velonakis, who came to Australia from the Greek island of Crete 41 years ago. "Not many of us can go home to see the Olympic Games, so this is a wonderful day for every Greek person in Melbourne.''

Later Saturday, the Olympic torch is likely to get one of its loudest greetings just two days into its five-week world tour when it is paraded during halftime at an Australian Rules football game in Melbourne Cricket Ground, a major venue for the 1956 Olympic Games.

On Friday, thousands of people watched and millions more tuned in on television to see Olympic champion Cathy Freeman take the flame from the forecourt of Sydney Opera House on a clear winter morning, kicking off the Australian leg of the relay.

After a welcoming ceremony involving Greek priestesses, and Aboriginal dancers and musicians, Freeman, who lit the cauldron at the 2000 Olympic opening ceremony, ran another 400m with the torch to a harborside cafe as cheering crowds lined the route.

"I think the Olympics right now, especially the way politically our world is, it's very appropriate that we try and remember unity and harmony and people coming together and being peaceful," Freeman said after her run.

The Athens flame arrived in Sydney shortly after 6am Friday aboard a Greek-chartered jumbo jet painted in Olympic colors and dubbed "Zeus."

Contained in a lantern aboard the plane, the flame traveled by car with a police guard to the Opera House.

Several hours after Freeman's run, marathon swimmer Susie Maroney held the torch as she bounded along the sands of Sydney's world-famous Bondi Beach -- the venue for the 2000 Olympic beach volleyball tournament.

After the torch changed hands 144 times during the day, former Australian cricket captain Stephen Waugh reignited the cauldron at the main Olympic venue in Sydney before the start of a National Rugby League match.

"That was very nerve-racking running up there and lighting the flame," said Waugh. "It's a huge thrill and in some ways I wish I was an Olympian.''

Dozens of Australian sports stars are involved in the relay in Melbourne and Sydney, the first two cities on the tour. The torch leaves Saturday evening for Tokyo, site of the 1964 Games.

The flame was lit in ancient Olympia on March 25 and taken to Athens' marble stadium, where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896. It started a 78,000km journey across six continents and 33 cities when it left Greece on Wednesday.

All past Summer Olympic host cities are on the relay route -- as well as 2008 host Beijing.

The torch relay returns to Greece on July 9 for the second half of its domestic relay before the start of the Aug. 13-29 Olympic Games.
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