Olympic Games

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The Olympic Flame and Torch Relay

The lighting of the Olympic flame is a practice continued from the ancient Olympic Games.
It all starts in Olympia (Greece), where a flame is ignited by the sun rays reflecxted off a curved mirror, and then kept burning until the closing of the Olympic Games. Women dressed in robes, resembling those worn in ancient times, light the flame.
The idea of an Olympic Flame burning from the start of the games to the closing was first introduced in 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.
The flame represents a number of things, including purity and the endeavor for perfection.
In 1936, the chairman of the organizing committee for the 1936 Olympic Games, Carl Diem, suggested what is now the modern Olympic Torch relay. The Olympic flame is lit at the ancient site of Olympia by women wearing ancient-style robes and using a curved mirror and the sun. The Olympic Torch is then passed from runner to runner from the ancient site of Olympia to the Olympic stadium in the hosting city.

The flame is then kept alight until the Games have concluded.
The Olympic Torch relay represents a continuation from the ancient Olympic Games to the modern Olympics.
The torchbearer for the 1956 Olympics was a virtually unknown 19 year old at the time he carried the torch into the stadium at Melbourne. Ron Clarke went on to become the world's finest distance runner in the 1960s.
The right to be part of the torch relay in LA 1984 was sold for $3,000 a kilometer, over Greek protests, although the $11 million raised went to local youth groups.
In 1996, ex-boxer Muhammad Ali lit the cauldron at the start of the Centennial Games.
In Sydney, 2000, Australian Aboriginal Cathy Freeman lit the cauldron at the start of the Games, and went on to win the 400m race.