April 27, 1996
Web posted at: 2:50 p.m. EDT

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The Olympic torch relay continued Saturday with the kindling of the flame that will be carried to Atlanta, the site of the 1996 Summer Games.

After the ceremonial lighting at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the 1984 Olympics took place, the Olympic torch was handed off to the first of 10,000 runners who will carry it on a 15,000-mile relay across the United States to Atlanta.

The flame will travel torch-to-torch on an 84-day run through 42 states, ending Atlanta on July 19.

Earlier Saturday, the Olympic flame arrived in Los Angeles aboard a special Delta Airlines flight and was flown by helicopter to the coliseum for the lighting ceremony.

Billy Payne, president of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, held the canister-encased flame aloft, then walked through the crowd letting bystanders touch the container as he passed.

Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner opened the lighting ceremony outside the coliseum beneath two bare, anatomically correct statues which Atlanta Olympic officials reportedly had asked to have covered for the televised ceremony. Bruce Jenner

"This Olympic flame will pass by millions of Americans on its 15,000-mile journey," said Jenner, the 1976 Olympic decathlon champion, who is to carry the flame.

The flame, which was lit by the rays of the sun in Olympia, Greece, last month, arrived at the coliseum by helicopter as the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band performed John Williams' 1984 "Olympic Fanfare and Theme."

The band later played Williams' "Official Centennial Theme" as children dressed in white carried the flags of the countries participating in the Summer Games. (144K AIFF sound or 144K WAV sound) women with flame

In a nod to history, the torch was passed to Olympic decathlon champion Rafer Johnson, the last person to carry the symbolic torch on its international journey to the 1984 Summer Games.

Johnson passed the torch to Gina Tillman, granddaughter of Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Games.

Participants in the torch relay include former athletes, public servants and ordinary citizens who have demonstrated a commitment to community service.

Each torch has enough propylene fuel to burn for 40 minutes, more than enough time for its carrier to cover the half-mile legs that make up the cross-country relay.

"If you haven't made it in 40 minutes, you're in trouble," joked Frank Marshall, producer of the ceremony. He will also run with torch.

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