On 2 June 1921, the I.O.C. awarded the Games of the VIIIth Olympiad to Paris and the Games of the IXth to Amsterdam. The Dutch royal and religious authorities, considering the Olympic movement rather pagan, had delayed the granting of the credits. The Queen even refused to preside over the opening ceremony. For the first time, the flame lit at Olympia, passing from relay to relay through Greece, Yugoslavia, Austria, and Germany, emerged from a huge cauldron, symbolizing the union of the world's youth.