The Olympic Torch Relays

Olympic Torch

In 2000 Sydney had her first Olympic Games and the second one for Australia, as Melbourne had the Olympic Games in 1956.

Val and I were married 1 year latter in 1957. Those first Olympic Games in Australia excited us like no other Sporting Event ever had: That of course was only up to the time, when Our Team, The Sydney Swans, won the AFL Grand Final in 2005 after 72 years. The Lady Mayor of Sydney gave the Swans a Ticker Tape Grand Parade up George Street the main Street of Sydney City, where she welcomed The Sydney Swans "The AFL Grand Finalist" of 2005 at the Sydney Town hall.

We were fortunate in having one of the boxes for Two days with all the food and drink supplied. This was thoroughly enjoyable and the only way to go. We roughed it for two days as well, out in the paddock. Then we wagged it for five days by catching a couple of low costing plane fares to Perth. This was an excellent way to watch the bits that we did not want to see. We had not been back to Perth for forty years. It was a perfect end to the Olympic Game 2000.

In August, China will be opening the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Prior to the opening, China the will relay the Olympic Torch throughout the World. The Torch has gradually inched around the World and we are observing the March of the Torch to the beginning of the Olympic Games.

The Original Torch came from the Ancient Olympics

So what does this Torch represent?

For the ancient Greeks, fire had divine connotations - it was thought to have been stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Therefore, fire was also present at many of the sanctuaries in Olympia, Greece. A fire permanently burned on the altar of Hestia in Olympia, Greece. During the Olympic Games, which honored Zeus, additional fires were lit at his temple and that of his wife, Hera. The modern Olympic flame is ignited at the site where the temple of Hera used to stand.

The Olympic Flame from those ancient games died virtually as those same games sunk into oblivion and in real content were not used or in context with The Olympic Games.

The Olympic Torch was not used as in the run up to the Olympic Games until 1928 at Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. An employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam lit the first Olympic flame in those Olympic Games, or what you might call the modern era.

What is The Torch for?

The original purpose of the lighting ceremony was to remember the theft of Zeus' fire by Prometheus. Perhaps the controversial theme of theft should have been a good indication of the bumpy road ahead for the flame ceremony. The first bump in the road occurred in the 1930's when people worldwide showed their distain for the Nazi regime by protesting the Berlin Olympics. Because it was the Nazi's who introduced the running of flame, protests occurred at later Olympic flame ceremonies to demonstrate the disapproval of maintaining a tradition that was created by such an extremely fascist regime.

Here are some facts about the Olympic Torch Relay.

HISTORY OF THE FLAME:

Flame races were run in ancient Athens to honor deities including Prometheus, who, legend has it, stole fire from the gods and brought wisdom and knowledge to humankind.

A fire was kept burning at ancient Olympics to honor the sun god Zeus; but such races were not organized for the Panhellenic Games (four separate sports festivals of which the four-yearly Olympics were one).

Fire first reappeared at the modern Olympics in Amsterdam in 1928, when a flame was built into an Olympic stadium tower. It was seen as a symbolic link between old and new games.

MODERN TORCH RELAYS:

Foot races with torches were run at the 1894 international congress in Paris which decided to re-establish the Games.

The first modern Olympic Torch Relay was introduced for the Olympics to Berlin.

Athens' 2004 Summer Olympics saw the first global torch relay through 34 cities in 27 countries.

TORCH-LIGHTING CEREMONY:

The torch is ignited several months before the games start at the ruins of Temple of Hera, in Olympia, southern Greece, and site of the ancient Olympics. Actresses dressed as priestesses use the sun and a parabolic (curved) mirror to light the flame.

Carried on foot to Athens in an urn, it is delivered to host city officials at the Greek capital's Panathinaiko Stadium. Shielded in a security lamp, it then travels on to the host city on foot, or via boat, airplane, bicycle, car or train.

Olympic Torch Tech: How Flame Survives Weather & Worse

Anne Casselman

for National Geographic News

April 9, 2008

This year the Olympic torch is undergoing unprecedented abuse, from protesters jostling over it to howling winds atop Mount Everest to potential relay cancellations.

But the 2008 torch can take the heat

Decades of innovation have made the torch the height of combustion technology-all in service to the ultimate flame imperative: The fire lighted at ancient Olympia in Greece on March 24 must be the same flame that lights the Olympic cauldron in Beijing on August 8.

(See.)

Athens torch.

"If [the 2008 torch's fuel] truly is propane then I would expect that the flame wouldn't be quite as bright as Athens and Sydney," Kelso said.

1932

1936 The Olympic Games in Berlin, where the World stood aghast when Hitler and his regime ruled and the horror of the atrocities were shown to the World.

The modern convention of moving the Olympic Flame via a relay system from Olympia to the Olympic venue began with the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany.

Berlin 1936 8 days 3,422 KM 3,422 runners: - Olympia - Athens - Thessaloniki (Greece) - Sofia (Bulgaria) - Belgrade (Yugoslavia) - Budapest (Hungary) - Vienna (Austria) - Prague (Czechoslovakia) - Dresden - Berlin (Germany)

Although most of the time the torch with the Olympic Flame is still carried by runners, it has been transported in many different ways. The fire traveled by boat in 1948 to cross the English Channel

London 1948 13 days 7,870 KMs, 3,372 runners: - Olympia - Corfu (Greece) (by ship) Bari - Milan (Italy) - Lausanne - Geneva (Switzerland) - Besançon - Metz (France) - Luxembourg (Luxembourg) - Brussels (Belgium) - Lille - Calais (France) - Dover - London (Great Britain.

Was first transported by airplane in 1952, when the fire traveled to Helsinki. Helsinki 1952 20 Days, 3,365KMs, 1,416 runners Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Aalborg - Odense - Copenhagen (Denmark) (by ship)Malmö - Gothenburg - Stockholm (Sweden) Tornio - Oulu - Helsinki. (Finland). A second flame was lit in Pallastunturi (Finland) and joined the main one in Tornio.

Melbourne 1956 21 Days, 20,470 KMs, 3,118 runners. Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Darwin - Brisbane - Sydney - Canberra - Melbourne (Australia)

Stockholm 1956, 9 days, 1,000 KMs, 490 runners, all carriers in the torch relay to, where the equestrian events were held instead of in Melbourne, traveled on horseback.

Rome 1960 14 Days, 2,750 KMs, 1529 runners, Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by ship) Syracuse - Catania - Messina - Reggio Calabria - Naples - Rome (Italy)

Tokyo 1964 51 Days, 20,065 KMs, 870 runners, Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Istanbul (Turkey) - Beirut (Lebanon) - Tehran (Iran) - Lahore (Pakistan) - New Delhi (India) - Rangoon (Burma) - Bangkok (Thailand) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Manila (Philippines) - Hong Kong (Hong Kong) - Taipei (Republic of China) - Okinawa - Tokyo (Japan, following four different routes.

Mexico City 1968 51 days, 13,620 KMs, 2,778 runners, Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by ship) Genoa (Italy) (by ship) Barcelona - Madrid - Sevilla - Palos (by ship) Las Palmas (Spain) - San Salvador Island (Bahamas) - Veracruz - Mexico City (Mexico)

Munich 1972 30 Days, 5,5532 KMs, 6,000 runners, Olympia - Athens - Thessaloniki (Greece) - Istanbul (Turkey) - Varna (Bulgaria) - Bucharest - Timişoara (Romania) - Belgrade (Yugoslavia) - Budapest (Hungary) - Vienna - Linz - Salzburg - Innsbruck (Austria) - Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Munich (West Germany)

Montreal 1976 5 Days, 775 KMs, 1,214 runners, Olympia - Athens (Greece) (satellite transmission of an electronic pulse) Ottawa - Montreal (Canada)

Canada 1976. Remarkable means of transportation were used in 1976, when the flame was transformed to a radio signal. From Athens, this signal was transmitted by satellite to Canada, where it was received and used to trigger a laser beam to re-light the flame.

Moscow 1980 31 days .4,915 KMs, 5,000 runners, Olympia - Athens - Thessaloniki (Greece) - Sofia (Bulgaria) - Bucharest (Romania) - Kishinev - Kiev - Tula - Moscow (USSR)

Los Angeles USA 1984 83 Days, 15,000 KMs, 3,636 runners, Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) New York - Boston - Philadelphia - Washington - Detroit - Chicago - Indianapolis - Atlanta - St. Louis - Dallas - Denver - Salt Lake City - Seattle - San Francisco - Los Angeles (USA)

Seoul 1988 26 Days, 15,250 KMs, 1,467 runners, Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Jeju - Pusan - Seoul (South Korea)

Barcelona 1992 51 days, 6,307 KMs, 10,448 runners, Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by ship) Empuries - Bilbao - La Coruña - Madrid - Sevilla - Las Palmas - Málaga - Valencia - Palma de Mallorca - Barcelona (Spain)

Getting attention for lighting the fire has never been an issue.

Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo shot a burning arrow over the cauldron from a platform at the opposite end of the stadium.

Two years later, the Olympic fire was brought into the stadium of Lillehammer by a ski jumper. For the Winter Olympics

Atlanta 1996 112 Days, 29,016 KMs, 13,267 runners, Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Los Angeles - Las Vegas - San Francisco - Seattle - Salt Lake City - Denver - Dallas - St. Louis - Minneapolis - Chicago - Detroit - Boston - New York - Philadelphia - Washington - Miami - Atlanta (USA)

Sydney 2000. 127 Days, 27,000 KMs, 13,300 runners, Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Guam - Palau - Federated States of Micronesia - Nauru - Solomon Islands -Papua New Guinea - Vanuatu - Samoa - American Samoa - Cook Islands - Tonga - Fiji - Christchurch - Wellington - Auckland (New Zealand) - Uluru - Brisbane - Darwin - Perth - Adelaide - Melbourne - Canberra - Sydney (Australia)

In 2000, the torch was carried under water by divers near the Great Barrier Reef.

Athens 2004. 142 Days, 86,000 KMs, 3,600 runners, Olympia - Marathonas - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Sydney - Melbourne (Australia) - Tokyo (Japan) - Seoul (South Korea) - Beijing (People's Republic of China) - Delhi (India) - Cairo (Egypt) - Cape Town (South Africa) - Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) - Mexico City (Mexico) - Los Angeles - St. Louis - Atlanta - New York (USA) - Montreal (Canada) - Antwerp - Brussels (Belgium) - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Lausanne - Geneva (Switzerland) - Paris (France) - London (Great Britain) - Madrid - Barcelona (Spain) - Rome (Italy) - Munich - Berlin (Germany) - Stockholm (Sweden) - Helsinki (Finland) - Moscow (Russia) - Kiev (Ukraine) - Istanbul (Turkey) - Sofia (Bulgaria) - Nicosia (Cyprus) - Iraklion - Thessaloniki - Patras - Athens (Greece

Other unique means of transportation include a Native American canoe, a camel, and Concorde. In 2004, the first global torch relay was undertaken, a journey that lasted 78 days. The Olympic flame covered a distance of more than 78,000 km in the hands of some 11,300 torchbearers, traveling to Africa and South America for the first time, visiting all previous Olympic cities, then returning to Athens for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Beijing 2008 130 days, 137,000 KMs, 21,880 runners, Olympia - Marathonas - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Beijing (People's Republic of China) (by airplane) Almaty (Kazakhstan) (by airplane) Istanbul (Turkey) (by airplane) St. Petersburg (Russia) (by airplane) London (Great Britain) - Paris (by airplane) San Francisco (USA) (by airplane) Buenos Aires (Argentina) (by airplane) Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) - Muscat (Oman) - Algiers (Algeria) - Islamabad (Pakistan) - Mumbai (India) - Bangkok (Thailand) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Jakarta (Indonesia) - Canberra (Australia) - Nagano (Japan) - Seoul (South Korea) - Pyongyang (North Korea) - Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) - Hong Kong - Macau - Sanya - Wuzhishan - Wanning - Haikou - Guangzhou - Shenzhen - Huizhou - Shantou - Fuzhou - Quanzhou - Xiamen - Longyan - Ruijin - Jinggangshan - Nanchang - Wenzhou - Ningbo - Hangzhou - Shaoxing - Jiaxing - Shanghai - Suzhou - Nantong - Taizhou - Yangzhou - Nanjing - Hefei - Huainan - Wuhu - Jixi - Huangshan - Wuhan - Yichang - Jingzhou - Yueyang - Changsha - Shaoshan - Guilin - Nanning - Baise - Kunming - Lijiang - Shangri-La County - Guiyang - Kaili - Zunyi - Chongqing - Guang'an - Mianyang - Guanghan - Leshan - Zigong - Yibin - Chengdu - Shannan Prefecture - Lhasa - Golmud - Qinghai Hu - Xining - Ürümqi - Kashi - Shihezi - Changji - Dunhuang - Jiayuguan - Jiuquan - Tianshui - Lanzhou - Zhongwei - Wuzhong - Yinchuan - Yan'an - Yangling - Xianyang - Xi'an - Yuncheng - Pingyao - Taiyuan - Datong - Hohhot - Ordos - Baotou - Chifeng - Qiqihar - Daqing - Harbin - Songyuan - Changchun - Jilin - Yanji - Shenyang - Benxi - Liaoyang - Anshan - Dalian - Yantai - Weihai - Qingdao - Rizhao - Linyi - Qufu - Tai'an - Jinan - Shangqiu - Kaifeng - Zhengzhou - Luoyang - Anyang - Shijiazhuang - Qinhuangdao - Tangshan - Tianjin - Beijing (People's Republic of China)

Yesterday (Thursday 24^th April); in Canberra by rowing boat on Lake Burly Griffin, for the China Olympic Games in Beijing 2008.

The Olympic Torch Relay has shown to be extremely effective, gaining worldwide publicity and raising awareness about the situation in China.

Despite the many difficulties the flame has encountered, it is still associated with many great things. For some it shows years of tradition occurring over and over again, for others it embodies the sense of accomplishment associated with making it to the games. It demonstrates the interconnectedness of the world, as we come together to send a flame from one country to another. It has seen many triumphant athletes and many dedicated protesters. It has traveled the world over, by foot, train, plane and radio wave. It has seen the winners and the losers, the smiles and the tears. It has seen people break records and people fall short. Whether it represents controversy or the convergence of the world, the flame has a long and important history.

What is the Torch made of and what lights this Torch?

According to Chinese press and the Beijing Olympics Web site, this year's torch boasts a flame that can withstand winds of up to 40 miles an hour (65 kilometers an hour), nearly 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain an hour, and temperatures of minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 degrees Celsius).

The flame is fueled entirely by propane, which marks a departure from its predecessors.

The 2000 Sydney Olympics' torch burned a propane-butane mix. Athens's torch was run on propylene and butane, which produced a bit more soot but increased the flame's brightness-important for those daytime photo ops.

Rocket Science

The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation designed the new torch's burning system-and it is, in a sense, rocket science.

Comparing modern Olympic torch technology and rocket design, engineer Richard Kelso said: "Both areas are very complex. And they require knowledge of combustion, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, aerodynamics, materials science, and also manufacturing."

Kelso, of the University of Adelaide in Australia, was chief design coordinator of the 2000 Sydney Olympic torch's fuel-and-combustion system as well as a senior design engineer for the 2004

The torch ceremony is seen by some as controversial. During one incident in the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, nine Australian students, most notably Barry Larkin, staged a hoax during the relay when the torch entered Sydney. The students wanted to protest against what they saw as "Too much reverence," to the flame, considering the Nazi origins. Larkin pretended to be an Olympic athlete, carrying a fake torch made out of a burning pair of underpants and a plum pudding can on the end of a chair leg. He presented it to the mayor of Sydney, Pat Hills, and escaped before anyone realized he was an imposter.^[8]

The 2008 Beijing Games, the torch has raised disputes about the sovereignty of the regions that it passes. The China Olympic Committee had initially planned for the torch to pass through the island of Taiwan before going to Hong Kong and Macau and then to mainland China. Taiwan rejected this on the basis that they wished the flame to enter the island/country by a 'third party country' and leave the island/country by a 'fourth party country', so that the torch will not downgrade Taiwan's sovereignty. Negotiations did not work out by the deadline set by the International Olympic Committee

Plans to carry the 2008 torch up the top of Mount Everest have also been met with opposition by Tibetan government-in-exile and its followers. The 2008 Summer Olympics Torch relay has become the focus of Chinese political issues in a similar way to that of past Olympiads. Serious unrest occurred during protests about China's treatment of Tibet in April 2008 when the Olympic Torch was paraded through many western cities on its world tour ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Japan will not allow entry of the Torch.

Many places through out the world have shortened the journey or simply cut the intended routs out.

Torch makes way through Australian Capital Territory unimpeded.

This may be giving the spoken word a small twist; as according to the newspapers, there were several scuffles and 7 people were arrested. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, maintained that no Chinese fire guards would be allowed to run with the Torch. There is an actual photo of at least two of these guards running in the relay. Although after a short period they were escorted away by the Australian Federal Police. They kept coming back into the line.

Thousands of Chinese supporters cheered as the Olympic torch made its way through the Australian capital city of Canberra on Thursday, with only pockets of protests marring one of the final legs of the flame's beleaguered journey around the globe to Beijing.

Fearing a repeat of protests that have dogged the torch's five-continent tour, authorities kept the Olympic flame in a secret location ahead of the run and tightened security along the route.

But the closest anyone got to the flame was a protester who leapt into the relay's path and sat cross-legged about 10 metres in front of the torch runner. He was quickly dragged off by police dressed in running pants, T-shirts and baseball caps who flanked the runners.

Away from the route, scuffles were also reported outside Australia's Parliament House, between Chinese supporters and Tibetan protesters. At least seven people were arrested throughout the day, police said.

Organizers called the Australian leg of the relay a victory because it saw little of the chaos that marred the event in Europe and the United States.

Thousands of supporters of the Chinese Games drowned out protests by about 500 pro-Tibetan activists demonstrating against China's actions in the region.

"We didn't expect this reaction from the Chinese community, which is obviously a well-co-ordinated plan to take the day by weight of numbers," Ted Quinlan, the chief organizer of the Australia relay, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.