Rio Games count down starts with Olympia torch lighting

The Olympic and the Brazilian flag fly over the site of ancient Olympia during the Olympic flame lighting ceremony for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Greece, April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (Reuters) - The official countdown to this year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics began with the lighting of the torch at the site of the ancient Games on Thursday and organisers hoping to shift attention away from Brazil's political and financial turmoil.

On a glorious spring day with the sun burning hot above the ancient stadium in Olympia, an actress playing a high priestess lit the torch from the rays of the sun at the temple of Hera, using a parabolic mirror.