ATHENS, Oct. 29 /CNW/ -- As Greek children waved the blue and white striped flag of their country hand-in-hand with the red and white Maple Leaf, Greek officials entrusted the Olympic Flame to a Canadian delegation for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games this evening in a moving ceremony at Panathinaiko Stadium in downtown Athens.

In less than 24 hours from now in Victoria, BC, the flame will emerge from a Canadian Forces CC-150 Polaris (Airbus A-310) aircraft in a miner's lantern and arrive on Canadian soil for the start of its 106-day journey across the second largest country in the world.

The handover ceremony, which involved Greek President Karolos Papoulias and Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, Governor General of Canada, took place within the confines of the storied white marble Panathinaiko Stadium, dating back to 329 BC, that played host to the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

After a week-long relay across Greece from Olympia to Athens, a group of priestesses in traditional dress entered the stadium and positioned themselves around a classic Greek pillar. The final torchbearer of the Greek leg of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay - Nikki Georgiadis, a Greek Canadian figure skater from Pickering, ON - then entered the stadium running with the Olympic Flame and lit the ceremonial Greek cauldron with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch.

"We entrust this sacred flame to our Canadian friends for safekeeping and wish them spectacular and successful Olympic Games as they welcome the world's best winter athletes in 2010," said Spyros Capralos, president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC), before passing the Olympic Flame to John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

Furlong enthusiastically accepted the flame stating "on behalf of all Canadians we accept the Olympic Flame with humility and respect. This moment marks the beginning of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay and we take with us the knowledge that the flame represents much more than a sporting event. It embodies the values of peace, friendship and respect, and has the power to unite, inspire and bring harmony to the world."

Following the handover, Aboriginal flame attendants Dina Ouellette, 22, of of the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation in New Brunswick, and 23-year-old Aronhiaies Herne, of the Mohawk community of Akwesasne in Central Canada, used a wand to capture the flame and light a miner's lantern for safekeeping of the flame.