According to the announcement by the International Olympic Committee on Sunday, the lighting of the Olympic flame is set to take place in the Greek sanctuary of Olympia, but not all could go well and as planned, since protesters angered by China's crackdown in Tibet might disrupt the high-profile event.

In order to keep that from happening, around 1.000 police officers have surrounded the sanctuary where the ancient games began some 2.800 years ago in southern Greece.

Amid threats from protesters, the Greek officials said that the Olympics have nothing to do with politics and that they will do everything in their powers to allow the ceremony to take place as planned.

"The IOC respects NGOs (non-government organizations) and activist groups and their causes, and speaks regularly with them -- but we are neither a political nor an activist organization," the committee said.

The protests come against the Chinese communist ruling, which has faced a public relations disaster after Tibetans started demonstrating in Lhasa on March 14 and sympathizers backed the movement in all surrounding provinces and other countries.

During the violent demonstrations, people were killed, especially from the protesters side, but there is almost impossible to find out the real number of those murdered, as the Chinese authorities are trying to hush up the matter.

However, it is likely that the police force would keep the ceremony safe, as the protesters are expected to be few.

If it all goes well, a Greek actress dressed as an ancient high priestess will light the 2008 Olympic flame by using a convex mirror to focus the sun's rays on the Olympic torch.

But the Greek authorities could face another problem, which would not be as easy to avoid, the weather. The forecasters said that rain was possible, forcing the event to be delayed by one hour in order to wait for clear skies.

If the sun would not appear, the ceremony will move inside and a backup flame will be used in order to light the torch.

From Olympia, the flame will begin a long journey, passing through 20 countries until August 8, when it would arrive at Beijing, after having travelled 85.000 miles.