Flame for Beijing Games lit at Olympia, pro-Tibetan protesters detained

The flame for the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Olympics has been lit using the sun's rays at a ceremony in Ancient Olympia.

IOC president Jacques Rogge attended the ceremony at the site in southern Greece where the ancient Olympics were born. An actress dressed as a high priestess lit the flame using a convex mirror.

Earlier, two pro-Tibet demonstrators ran onto the field at Ancient Olympia while Liu Qi, president of the Beijing organizing committee and Beijing Communist Party Secretary, was giving a speech. Police detained the two men.

Officers also detained one Tibetan campaigner and a Greek photographer with him in the village of Ancient Olympia, just outside the site.

Lhadon Tethong, director of Students for a Free Tibet, said both men were taken to the local police station.

"One of our colleagues saw them being dragged by about 20 police through town," Tethong told The Associated Press.

The ceremony was held an hour early _ starting at 0900GMT _ to avoid rain forecast for later Monday. The ancient site was damaged by wildfires last year, prompting a massive replanting effort.