The countdown to this summer's London Olympics kicked off with the kindling of the Games torch by the sun's rays in ancient Olympia on Thursday, May 10 sparking a relay that will culminate with the lighting of the Olympic stadium's cauldron at the opening ceremony on July 27.

On a warm and sunny day at the site of the ancient Olympics, actress Ino Menegaki, playing the high priestess, needed only a few seconds to ignite the torch with the help of a parabolic mirror in this traditional ceremony less than 80 days before the Games get under way.

The relay's first torchbearer, Spyros Gianniotis, a Liverpool-born Greek swimmer who won the gold medal in the 10km open water event at the 2011 world championships, started the seven-day Greek leg of the relay before the flame is handed over to London organizers on May 17 and flown to Britain a day later, Reuters reported.