The Torch is on the Run: Let the Olympic Games Begin

The Olympic Torch has been the highlight of the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games since 1928. The flame is the purest of Olympic symbols, with its roots in ancient Greece. Since the days, thousands of years ago, when it was believed Prometheus stole sacred fire from the gods and gave it to men on Earth, the flame has symbolized freedom, reason and creativity. Through time it has also come to represent unity and a bond of humanity that goes above and beyond outside influences.

In time for the 1936 Olympic Games, a relay was created to bring the flame from the site of ancient Olympia to Berlin. The route traversed seven different countries, and was carried in turn by more than 3,300 torch-bearers. It took 12 days and 13 nights to cover the almost 2,000-mile relay. In the context of Hitler’s Germany, bringing the flame directly from Olympia to Berlin was a symbol of strength, power and challenge to the rest of the world, and undeniably intense national pride. Using the kind of foot-race that the ancient Greeks used to run, passing a burning torch from one man to the next further underlined Hitler’s belief in his countrymen’s connection with the great men of the past.

Referred to as the “Red Thread of Passion that will Unite all Italy,” the torch relay to Turin began in Rome on December 8. It will culminate at the opening ceremonies February 10.

The relay that brings the Olympic flame to the torch in Turin remains a symbol of national pride. But today it embodies a more peaceful message of unity, brotherhood and the qualities that bind this level of athlete and the world together, namely courage, strength, perseverance and solidarity. Although lighting the torch has had political and historical significance at times, as in 1964 when Yoshinori Sakai, a young man who was born in Hiroshima the day the atomic bomb decimated the city, lit the torch in Tokyo, today the event is one of celebration. The relay of torch-bearers is a countdown to the world’s greatest sporting competitions, where only the best of the best are invited to compete against each other.

The run that brings the flame to the Winter Olympics in Turin is steeped in the honor and tradition of everything the Games represent. While a relatively modern tradition, it is nevertheless one that has become inextricably attached to the entire Olympics mystique. The sense of national pride the Italians hold for this responsibility is great enough to have demanded the attention and sponsorship of such government offices as the Ministry for Cultural Heritage.

In appreciation of the importance of involving as many countrymen as possible in the safe passage of the flame to its destination, an invitation was sent out to every Italian citizen above the age of 10 not either holding public office or about to campaign for one. Torchbearers were selected from applicants who would be able to carry the roughly 5-pound torch for at least 500 yards on the day and at the place designated by the organizing committee. And they must be willing to wear the official uniform, representing the games, Italy and the highest ideals of both.

There was a flood of responses to this national invitation, from which 10,001 torchbearers were chosen to deliver the flame to the Games. Among them, celebrities like Giorgio Armani and everyday folk who just wanted to be part of history. They carry with them on each leg of the journey the Olympic ideals of peace, unity, and the brotherhood of man. Not necessarily athletes in any other part of their lives, the men and women who carry the torch also carry forward the spirit of an ancient tradition, forged thousands of years ago in ideals so timeless and powerful that they have echoed through time and remain as relevant today as they were then.

Torchbearers will carry the flame on this 64-day relay through every region and 170 provinces of Italy, winding its way through 140 cities as it climbs hillsides, descends mountains, crosses islands, and runs through the town squares of rural villages. They will stop in cities of international renown, like Rome, Pisa, Venice and Milan, as well as lesser-known towns few outside Italy recognize, including Catania, Bari, Foggia and Pavia.

This is the third time the relay has been run through Italy; it did so in 1956 for the Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, and again in 1960 for the Games in Rome. 50 years to the day after that first relay brought the torch through Cortina d’Ampezzo, the symbol returned to run through again on January 26 of this year.

Along the more than 7,000 miles it has to traverse, the relay will visit National Olympic Committees in San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and France. And the torch will get around in some interesting ways. The torch travels by bobsleigh, gondola, ice-skater and horseback – whatever will get it there.

And technology in design is a huge part of getting the torch anywhere. Every torch since that first relay in 1936 has been an original design, showcasing human creativity, ingenuity and technology. The torch bearing the flame for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games was designed by Pininfarina to be a beautiful, sweeping extension of the human arm and hand,
culminating at the top with a flame that wraps completely around the pinnacle.

Pininfarina invented a new combustion system to conform to the basic requirements of all Olympic torches, one that utilizes stainless steel, copper and techno plymer inside an aluminum casing. Official torches must be able to stay alight perpetually, even in rain, snow and winds up to 75 mph. The outside of this torch also has a special coating to keep it from transferring heat back to the torchbearer and making it too hot to handle.

This torch is a stunning combination of style and function; the epitome of Italian design. The effect is one of the torchbearer transferring heat and light directly to the shaft of the torch and on up to the flame.

Fame follows the flame, as people pore into the streets to catch a glimpse of the torch carried past. All along its route, parties, concerts and performances have been planned to celebrate the torch’s progress – and the calendar’s countdown – to the Winter Olympic Games.

Each part of the journey has been designated a theme addressing the best that Italy has to offer. Every “handover” city, where the torch rests for the evening, celebrates in its overnight guest under a theme like art and culture, style and design, or innovation and technology. The relay has truly become an opportunity for Italy to show off its national pride in style, with the whole world watching.

The torch relay links one Olympic Games to the all the others that came before and all the ones that will follow. Thus, athletes around the world and across time are linked to one another through the hands of everyday, ordinary people who carry that responsibility with them as they pass the torch off to the next runner. It is a race run in the true tradition and spirit of the Olympic Games.