En Route to Greece, Olympic Torch Touches Many

Stefan Lovgren in Stockholm, Sweden
for National Geographic News

July 8, 2004

Soccer legend Pelé cried as he brought it around Rio de
Janeiro's Maracana Stadium. Nelson Mandela carried it at Robben
Island, where the former South African president was imprisoned
during the apartheid years.

Emotions have sometimes run high as the Olympic flame—a beloved symbol of the Olympic ideals of competition, friendship, peace, and culture—has made its way around the world ahead of next month's Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

The torch relay, introduced in 1936, has become a colossal undertaking. This year, the flame will be passed between 11,000 runners in 27 countries before it is used to light a cauldron at the opening ceremony on August 13 in Athens, where it will burn throughout the games. It's the first time the torch relay has traveled to Africa and South America.

It's also the first time the relay is going to all the previous host cities. Last week, it reached Stockholm, Sweden, site of the 1912 Olympics. Here, throngs of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the famous flame.

"It's a great honor to carry the torch," said Pernilla Wiberg, an Olympic gold medal winner in downhill skiing at the 1992 and 1994 Olympics. This year she ran the last leg in Stockholm. "The Olympic flame represents a great sense of community, as athletes come together from all over the world."

Ancient Fire

To the ancient Greeks, fire symbolized the creation of the world, renewal, and light. They believed the god Prometheus gave fire to humankind. This divine origin made fire a sacred element, and the Greeks maintained fires in front of their temples.

The inaugural Olympic Games, held in 776 B.C. at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, Greece, were staged in honor of the gods, including Prometheus. Every four years for over a millennium after that, rival city-states put aside their differences and invoked a sacred truce to compete in sports such as chariot racing, boxing, and foot races.

During the games a flame ignited by the sun burned continually on the altar of the goddess Hera, signifying purity, reason, and peace among nations.

Then the games disappeared for more than 1,500 years, until they were reborn in Athens in 1896.

The modern Olympic flame was introduced at the Amsterdam Olympic Games in 1928. There was no formal ceremony. The flame was lit and burned for the duration of the games in a cauldron above the marathon entrance at the Olympic stadium.

Inspired by ancient Greek drawings, Carl Diem, a German professor and head of the organizing committee for the 1936 Berlin Games, introduced the idea of an Olympic torch relay. Diem, a Nazi sympathizer, thought the relay would unite the world and spread the Olympic ideals of peace and brotherhood.

The first relay began in Olympia, where a torch was lit by the sun, then passed from runner to runner, crossing seven countries in 12 days before the torch was used to light the flame in Berlin. Since then, the torch relay has remained a prelude to the Olympic Games.

Olive Branch

On March 25 this year, the Olympic flame was rekindled from the sun's rays during a traditional ceremony in Olympia. It traveled for seven days in Greece, then remained in a cauldron until June 4, when it began its international journey to Sydney, Australia—host to the last Summer Olympics.

The flame is maintained in a lantern that travels with the relay. A torch is lit from the flame every morning to start that day's relay. The runners then pass the flame from torch to torch.

Crafted by Greek designer Andreas Varotsos, the torch weighs 700 grams (1.5 pounds) and is 68 centimeters (26.8 inches) long. It resembles an olive leaf, an ancient symbol of the Athenian city-state. The olive branch is recognized as a symbol of peace and freedom.

In Stockholm, the 28th stop on the tour, the torch traveled through some of the city's landmarks, such as the Olympic Stadium, the Royal Palace, and the City Hall, where the Nobel Prizes are held each year.

Each runner carries the torch for about 400 meters (440 yards). Most of the runners in Sweden were athletes. But actors such as Tom Cruise and Sylvester Stallone ran with the torch as it passed through Los Angeles, California.

Some runners are ordinary citizens who may have been nominated by friends or family members.

"There is certainly no shortage of people who want to run," said Kristin Fabos, a spokesperson for the Athens games.

Some of the methods to transport the torch have been unconventional. In 2000 several scuba divers carried a specially designed torch underwater. This year, the torch has traveled by elephant in Delhi, India; camel at the Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt; and tram in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Commercialism

Some complain that the relay has grown too big and too expensive. Last year the International Olympic Committee even suggested that the relay should be limited to the host country. Critics say advertising sponsors exert too much control over the event.

That didn't seem to bother the torchbearers in Stockholm.

Ragnar Skanåker, an Olympic gold medal winner in the 50-meter free pistol competition at the 1972 Munich Games, said the torch relay and the Olympics are opportunities for lesser known sports to get recognized.

"I represent a sport that only gets noticed every four years," he said.

Torchbearer David Lega is a disabled swimmer from Sweden who holds seven world records and competed in the 1996 and 2000 Paralympics the "Parallel Olympics" for atheletes with disabilities. To him, the Olympic flame is a vital symbol of peace in particularly troubling times.

"There's so much division in society today," Lega said. "This is a small way of saying that we're all united."

For more Olympics news, scroll down.