The Torch Relay
The tradition of the Olympic torch goes back to the ancient Games in Olympia, where a sacred flame was burnt at the altar of the Greek god Zeus while the competitions were held. The flame symbolised a striving for perfection and victory.
The modern torch relay was introduced in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where it was a huge success.
Find out where the 2008 torch went!
During the lead-up to the Olympic Games, women dress up as Grecian priestesses and gather amongst the ruins at the highest point of the ancient stadium at Olympia. There, they use a curved mirror to reflect and magnify the sun's rays to light a torch. The 'high priestess' passes this torch to the first member of a team of relay runners (called torchbearers) who carry the torch to the site of the new Olympic Games.
According to tradition, the Olympic Flame was lit in Olympia, Greece on the 24th of march 2008. From the 24-29 March, the Torch Relay traveled across Greece, ending at the Panathinaiko Stadium, the site of the first modern Olympics in 1896.
IDEA: In which year did Melbourne host the Olympic Games? Find someone who remembers watching those Games and ask them what they were like.
"The Olympic Games are about being part of something bigger than yourself, sharing the history, spirit, ceremony and tradition of the most enduring and admirable human event of all time and the Torch Relay literally and figuratively embodies this sense of sharing - from the simple connection of two individuals as the torch is passed from one to the next to the sharing of the spirit of the Torch Relay with all Australians and the entire world."
Official statement -Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch Relay.
The torchbearers will include olympians, known community members, people from all walks of life and of all ages, and those involved in voluntary community service helping others.
The final runner will have the great honour of carrying the torch into the Beijing Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony on the 8th of August. The torch will then be used to ignite the cauldron and this moment officially signifies the beginning of the Games.
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The identity of the person who lights the cauldron flame will be kept secret right until the end. The cauldron will burn continuously for the duration of the Games. At the Closing Ceremony the flame will be extinguished, with an official declaration that it will be re-lit at the next Games which are to be held in London, England in 2012. |
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DID YOU KNOW?
The Sydney Olympic Torch relay was the longest and most comprehensive since the first relay at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Each day, on average, the torch travelled 270 km and was carried by 100 torchbearers moving at 8.5 km/hour.
It visited 1000 towns in Australia, in all States and Territories, and passed within one hours' drive of 85% of the Australian population.
It used 123,000 litres of fuel in its historic journey around Australia.
The 1968 Mexico City torch relay followed the route taken by Columbus, with one of his direct descendants part of the relay team.
In the 1956 Olympics a 26-year-old by the name of Norm Williams carried the Melbourne Olympics torch through the old mining town of Harden in NSW. His wife, Dorothy, was one of the torchbearers for the Sydney Games, 44 years later.
Another of the torchbearers was Jack Lockett, who at age 109, was born before the modern Olympics even began.
Ironically, the 1936 Berlin torch was made of steel from the Krupps munitions factory, which a few years later supplied the steel for Hitler's war machinery.