There were brief showers just before the Torch lighting ceremony, which had everyone here scurrying for umbrellas, but nothing like the torrential downpour that the forecasts had promised.

True, they did have to use the reserve flame lit yesterday. That came as no surprise given the clouds overhead, but the deployment of the back-up is by no means a bad omen. The same thing happened to Melbourne and Sydney and to the Winter Games in Grenoble in 1968 and Nagano in 1998. All proved to be memorable.

The event itself seemed to be in doubt when a heavy storm arrived the previous afternoon drenching all in its path. The running track in the Ancient Stadium looked more like a swimming pool.

We have had rain at Olympic ceremonies before of course, notably in 2012 in Athens at the handover ceremony for London. But this landmark ceremony in Olympia has always been something special.

A hastily convened meeting of Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) officials decided that it should go ahead in the precincts of the Ancient Games according to tradition. It was a bold decision but surely the correct one. The alternative, the giant lecture theatre of the nearby International Olympic Academy, would have ensured everyone stayed dry but some of the essence of the ceremony would have been lost.

It is hard to imagine the dance of the nymphs having the same impact in a modern setting. Against the columns of the archaeological ruins, with the accompaniment of music played on the ancient lyre and flute, it set the tone perfectly and transported all present back to the time of the Ancient Games.

As well as a huge party from Pyeongchang, organisers brought in Zaiqing Yu to represent 2022 winter hosts Beijing. 

He was joined by Tsunekazu Takeda from Tokyo 2020, Denis Masseglia on behalf of Paris 2024 and Larry Probst of 2028 host city Los Angeles.

In the words of International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, this was "an expression of faith in the future".

It reflected an increasing trend in Olympic circles to link the symbolism of the Summer and Winter Games, although each takes place on a separate cycle with different numbering.

Amongst those sheltering from the showers in the stadium was 1976 110 metre hurdles champion Guy Drut, an IOC member in France. He told me it was the first time he had actually witnessed the lighting ceremony. An Olympic flame will burn at a Paris Games for the first time in 2024. The previous Parisian Games in 1900 and 1924 were before the ritual was introduced.

South Korean football superstar Park Ji-sung had been just a face in the crowd watching the performance of the priestesses before taking his place to receive the flame as the first participant from the host nation. As he waited, even the local constabulary were keen to have their photo taken with the star in their midst. He was happy to oblige.

Park was born in 1981, the year Seoul was awarded the 1988 Olympic Games. Although he was only seven when they took place, Park has vivid memories.

"I grew up watching the Olympics on TV," he said. "As a little boy I watched the 1988 Olympics. The whole country was focused on it. It was important for our country with the influence on the sports but also economics, culture and everything involved in our country.

"I just wondered how it would feel to participate in the Olympic Games. I felt the Olympic spirit when I first participated in Sydney, which was a great experience for me and now I have carried the Torch. It means a lot to me. 

"During the run I was very happy."

Park, who is an ambassador for the 2018 Games, did confide that it was not quite as nerve-wracking as running out at Old Trafford in his days with Manchester United or representing South Korea in World Cups and the Olympics.

"It is a different experience, this is not a competition, this is more about representing our country," he said. 

"This shows all the people that they should focus on the next Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. It is not competition, it is just to show off the quality of the Games. This is the first Winter Olympics Games we have had in Korea but we have proved we can organise big events with the 1988 Olympics and the 2002 World Cup.

"I shall watch every single sport. I can't choose one but hopefully everything goes well."

Greek cross-country skier Apostolos Angelis was the first runner, renewing a connection with the ceremony by a fellow member of the Metsovo Skiing Club. Lefteris Fafalis was the first Torchbearer back in 2002 for Salt Lake City.

As he headed out of the Olympic Stadium, Angelis would have given Usain Bolt a run for his money as he raced towards the Coubertin Grove to pay tribute to Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Games. Angelis has already qualified for the 2018 Games and clearly cannot wait to take part.

The Torch will visit his home town of Ioannina on day two of the Relay and burn there overnight.

At the gates to the Coubertin memorial, he took part in the first exchange of the flame known as "the kiss". Park was the first footballer to carry the Olympic Torch at this early stage of an Olympic Torch Relay but others from his sport have also done so.

As the flame crosses the Rio Bridge, it will surely spark memories of Otto Rehhagel's run across the same bridge in 2004. He was the coach of the Greek team which won the European Football Championships that year.

By mid-afternoon on the first day, the runners had taken it as far as Pyrgos, although the rains returned to track the Relay's progress in the early stages of its journey across the Peloponnese.

On the first evening, the flame arrived in the port of Patras and this was another pleasing echo of 1988 when the flame arrived at the same staging point.

Some 505 runners will carry the Torch on Greek soil in the next week as the flame heads north and reaches Thessaloniki on day four. It will also visit the town of Drama, though some organisers might feel they have had plenty of that already with meteorological concerns.

Before it returns to Athens, there is a stop in Delphi which has its own place in Torch Relay lore. Back in 1936, Leni Riefenstahl shot the sequences showing the lighting of the Olympic flame amongst the columns at Delphi.

In a week from now it arrives in Athens. Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos, present in Olympia, will also be there to watch the ceremony in another historic setting.

This time an Alpine skier will take centre stage. Twenty-two-year-old Ioannis Proios from Thessaloniki will light a golden cauldron in the Panathinaiko Stadium before HOC President Spyros Capralos entrusts a safety lamp containing the flame to the party from Pyeongchang 2018.

With a nice sense of symmetry, the Torch will travel exactly 2,018 kilometres on Korean soil.