The Olympic Torch Relay Is Underway

On Thursday, the first leg of the Grecian portion of the 2016 Olympic relay was started. The official flame that will start the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro has started its journey from Olympia, Greece.

From Olympia, the torch will travel over 1300 miles around Greece where it will be presented at the home of the original modern day Olympiad, Athens, in under a week's time. 450 people are scheduled to help carry the torch on its relay through Greece.

From Athens, the torch will move to its Brazilian route starting on May 3. The torch will visit every State capital in Brazil starting with the national capital of Brasilia.

The torch will visit over 300 different cities in the run up to the Olympic Games set to start on August 5 at the Maracana Stadium in Rio.

It is estimated that the torch's route will reach 90% of Brazil's estimated 200 million people in lead up the torch lighting ceremony in August.