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Olympic torch begins epic journey

(CNN) -- A lone pro-Tibet protester managed to breach the tight security during the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece Monday.

The man interrupted the speech of China organising committee chief Liu Qi before the flame was lit. The man, thought to be a human rights activist, was waving an unidentified banner, but was quickly apprehended by police who escorted him away.

China organising committee chief Liu Qi

China organising committee chief Liu Qi was speaking when the protester ran up behind him.

A pro-Tibet independence group had vowed to protest at the official lighting of the Olympic torch, AP reported.

The Olympic torch began its 130-day, 137,00 km (85,000 miles) journey that will take it from the site of ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing, China, where the 2008 summer games will begin in August.

The mammoth trip is the longest ever in Olympic history.

Olympic officials insist the torch relay will not detour around Tibet and nearby regions despite violent anti-Chinese protests and calls by Tibetan activists for a boycott of the Beijing games.

About 1,000 police were on hand to keep demonstrators away from the ceremony, according to reports from The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, IOC president Jacques Rogge said he was engaged in "silent diplomacy" with China on Tibet and other human rights issues in advance of the Beijing Olympics, AP reported.

While much of the trip will be aboard a chartered jet, tens of thousands of torchbearers -- 19,400 in China alone -- will carry the flame on foot through 23 cities on five continents and then throughout China.

Organizers lit the flame Monday by focusing the sun's rays on a concave steel mirror at the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia.

Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou, portraying the High Priestess, lit the first torch. It will be carried the first mile by Alexandros Nikolaidis, a Greek athlete who won a silver medal in taekwondo at the 2004 Olympics.

China's Olympic swimming gold medalist, Luo Xuejuan, will take the flame from Nikolaidis. Another 603 bearers will run the torch through Greece, culminating in Athens on March 30, where the torch will be handed over to China for a flight to Beijing.

After a ceremonial arrival in Beijing, the flame will move around the world through April. At the beginning of May, it begins a three-month trek through at least 111 Chinese cities in more than 30 provinces and regions.

A second flame will attempt a side trip sometime in May -- depending on weather conditions -- to the top of Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak, along the Tibet-Nepal border.

The most controversial leg of the torch relay is planned for June, when it is scheduled to be carried through Tibet and three neighboring provinces where violent unrest broke out this month.

Olympic officials insisted last week that the relay in these areas will proceed as planned.

"All the preparations for the torch relay in Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Gansu are proceeding very well," Beijing Olympics organizer Jiang Xiaoyu said.

The flame is set to arrive in Beijing on August 6, where it will be paraded around the city until entering the stadium for the Olympics opening ceremony on August 8.

In addition to visiting cities in Greece and China, runners plan to carry the torch to countries including Kazakhstan, Russia, France and USA.

Just before the mainland China stretch, the flame will also pass through China's two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macao.