ATHENS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Milano-Cortina Winter Games organisers received the Olympic flame on Thursday in a ceremony at Athens' Panathenaic Stadium,as they prepare for a 63-day torch relay designed to spark excitement acrossItaly before the Olympics in February.

In a scaled-down event due to heavy rain warnings, as was the case when the flame was lit in ancient Olympia last week, Milano-Cortina Games organising chief Giovanni Malago was handed the flame inside the vast marble-clad stadium just over two months before the opening ceremony on February 6.