Interview: I am happy if I can awake consciousness lighting the Olympic Flame: ceremony High Priestess

The curtain of the Rio 2016 Olympics will open on Friday with the Olympic cauldron being lit by the sacred flame gathered in Greece. Greek actress Katerina Lehou who lit the Olympic Flame playing the role of an ancient High Priestess at the birthplace of the Games in April, talked to Xinhua about the substance of the Olympic Games, what the Flame symbolizes and the messages she wishes to convey to the world.

Lehou will be in Rio on Aug. 5, along with the Lighting ceremony's choreographer Artemis Ignatiou, invited by the International Olympic Committee.

Before packing her luggage, she talked about the special "journey" she has started over the past two years with her involvement in the Olympic movement.

"Journey" is the word she has picked for her four year term as a High Priestess since she took over in 2014 ahead of the Nanjing Youth Games, she explained.

She feels that this is something more than just another role. It has a metaphysical dimension. She feels she travels further each time she plays the part lighting the Flame. She feels the burden, the honor and the joy of becoming the medium to awaken consciousness so that people may remember and embrace again the Olympic ideals of Truce, acceptance, peaceful coexistence at times of war conflicts and racism.

"If I can remind all these things with my presence and this action it is much deeper and significant than moving someone during a play which lasts two hours. It has philosophical extensions, metaphysics extensions which theater plays we are presenting not always have," she said.

"It has a very special weight. And it is one of the things that make me feel proud of being Greek today. And this is also important," she stressed.

In the first beginning, Lehou did not have a burning desire of taking up the role. But once the Hellenic Olympic Committee made the proposal she realized that this was a journey in life that she wanted to make. Not all Greek actresses are suitable for the post. The criteria are strict.

"I think that they select us based on our personalities, so the issue is how I will manage to add the part of my personality in the Lighting ceremony. That is why I am a little bit older, I have taken my own personal course, I am not a young girl which is starting now, I have lived 30 years working. I think that all these are playing a part in the selection process," she explained.

In her first Lighting ceremony at the Panathinaic stadium in Athens she got emotional and could not understand where this feeling comes from. At the ancient stadium of Olympia the emotions multiplied.

"When I reached Olympia this year -- and there is of course no comparison to me with the Panathinaic stadium -- (I felt) this site is like being made by Gods or God for hosting this ceremony," she said.

Lehou is on the spotlight, but never feels alone when shouldering the burden of responsibility for an impeccable performance. She feels Ignatiou and the other dancers by her side. Ignatiou has transmitted to her the passion for the ceremonies.

"She never gives me precise instructions, but an idea of what I should do. I ask her how should I raise the torch and she responds 'However you like. As long as the Torch lifts you'. This is the kind of instructions she gives me, instructions which allow me to travel and reach the substance of the whole thing," she explained.

The other members of the team also support her.

"They help me very much. Of course the High Priestess is on the spotlight. They are telling me 'our hearts are always beating like crazy to see whether you will make it to light the Flame and everything runs smoothly' and I feel the responsibility and the burden to make it, but they give me power. They give me energy. They create an energy field so I can perform very well. I do not feel loneliness," she said.

What happens if something goes wrong? "We are humans. Something may go wrong. But my experience as an actress is helping me to cope with this, because I know that in each play I am working something will go wrong. I have just learnt, I have been trained to get over it. The hardest thing I was asked for in this ceremony is staying idle," Lehou noted.

After several minutes of stillness during the ceremony her hands and legs are going numb, she explained. She felt cold. She learnt to clear her mind and deal with anything.

The role is demanding and there is no remuneration. Lehou, Ignatiou and all people involved in the ceremonies are volunteers. They are investing time and effort for at least six months before each ceremony. Lehou turned down job proposals for this summer.

"I do not regret losing another role in the theater or the financial cost, because of course I do not get paid for this and one needs to consider how to make a living. I think that this is unique. I will not live it again. It is so simple. When you are not going to live something again, you just choose it," she said.

Anyway, she is in this profession for the expression of herself and cooperation rather than specific roles, she explained. The role of Medea maybe is the only exception to her rule. "I have no desire to play any particular role in my life, because I am not interested in roles but people and cooperation, encounters in my life. This is a role I really want to perform because it is unsolved to me. It is like entering a dark tunnel and I would love to get inside and manage to find the light at the end," she said.

Another Medea, written by Jean Anouilh, was the reason she became an actress. She always had an artistic flair. She had piano lessons for several years and loved literature. When the book fell in her hands it was like one was laying the air corridor for her airplane to take off, to express herself, she explained.

Speaking to Xinhua, Lehou expressed her opinion on the Games and their image today. The show part is most welcome because it attracts large crowds and helps to introduce people to sports, but the High Priestess and all people involved in the ceremonies wish that the audience does not overlook the substance.

"The financial part is also fair. The world goes round and money is the fuel, therefore this support is necessary, but it would be nice if we would not forget also the substance of the Games. People from across the world are gathering, coexisting with good sportsmanship, giving us a good example, showing us that we can be together regardless of where we come from and we can give things to each other, we can have a very interesting exchange in the cultural and sports level," she said.

"So I would prefer if this was a little bit more in the front line and I think that this is what we are trying to do here at the starting point in Olympia with the Lighting of the Olympic Flame," she stressed. Endit