Australian runner Cathy Freeman, who lit the Olympic cauldron at the 2000 Sydney Games, will be the first international torch bearer for the 2004 Athens Olympics when the flame begins its world tour in Australia next year, organisers said on Friday.

Freeman, winner of the 400 metres in Sydney, will pick up the first international torch after the sun's rays light the flame in ancient Olympia, site of the first Games in 776 BC, next May.

After several runners carry the torch in Greece, it will travel by plane to Sydney to kick off a worldwide tour, crossing five continents for the first time.

It was not clear when the torch will be in Australia.

Athens Games officials said Freeman will not be at the official lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia, as was initially suggested.

"She will be the first international torch bearer when the flame travels abroad, first to Australia," an Athens Games official said.

The Athens torch relay is already the largest in the history of the event, visiting 28 cities with more than 10,000 runners.

The olive leaf-shaped torch will stop at all previous Olympic cities as well as Rio de Janeiro, Cairo, Cape Town, New Delhi, Nicosia, Lausanne, New York, Beijing and Istanbul.

The torch, crossing South America and Africa for the first time, will be on the road overseas for 35 days, before its journey ends at Athens' Olympic stadium on August 13, 2004 with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the Games' opening ceremony.