Passing the Torch

My husband's aunt just got some big news: she's been chosen to carry the Olympic torch in North Sydney during the official torch relay.

Over the course of my life, my attitude has been "Olympics, Schmalympics". But, it truly is more interesting than I thought.

The modern Olympic flame and relay take their origins from the ancient Games of Olympia, in Greece. At that time, torch and relay races were an important part of the cultural festivities during the Games, symbolizing peace and goodwill. Official messengers would travel the country, declaring a sacred truce for the duration of the Games, and that same spirit of peace continues in the modern day relay.

The torch relay itself, however, only became an official Olympic tradition in 1936, at the Summer Games in Berlin, Germany. Carl Diem, who Hitler reluctantly allowed to head up the Games, has historical credit for turning the abstract Greek philosophy into an ongoing Olympic tradition.

While Diem's brainchild was based on the purity of ancient Greek beliefs, Adolph Hitler, who had come to power in the time since Berlin's winning bid for the games, saw a greater purpose for the proposed relay. He believed that classical Greece superiorities were an Aryan forerunner to his German Reich, and thought a torch relay not only illustrated a link between ancient Greece and his philosophies, but also added a bit of myth and mystique to his regime (or, at least that's what the Nazi propaganda machine intended).

As a matter of fact, Fritz Schligen, the first torch runner to light the stadium flame, wasn't even a competitor in those 1936 Olympics; he was chosen by the Nazis for this graceful appearance and running style, which they felt would enhance the public's positive view of the "new" ceremony.

The torch relay has come a long way since the early days. Though it is normally carried by runners, through the years it has been transported in many different ways. The fire travelled across the English Channel by boat in 1948 en route to the London Summer Games. It travelled by airplane for the first time in 1952 when it went to Helsinki Games, and even by horseback for the duration of the 1956 relay to the Stockholm Games.

As years go by, even technology is impacting the variations of the torch and relay. In 1976, the flame was transformed to an electronic pulse, which was transmitted by satellite from Athens to Montreal. The signal was then used to trigger a laser beam to re-light the cauldron at the stadium. Pretty cool, wouldn't you say? Another specially manufactured torch saw the Great Barrier Reef in 2000, as divers transported it to the Games in Sydney.

The first global torch relay, in celebration of the 2004 Athens Summer Games, lasted for 142 days and almost 12,000 torchbearers carried the flame more than 78,000km. An even more ambitious relay was undertaken for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when the torch was taken by over 20,000 carriers a distance of 137,000km, and visited the majority of the Orient, in addition to many other countries worldwide.

The transfer of the flame from torch to cauldron at the host stadium marks the official beginning of the Games. In a phenomenal ceremony at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, a Paralympic archer ignited the cauldron by shooting a burning arrow over a stream of natural gas above it to activate the flame. (Look it up on YouTube, it's amazing.) In Lillehammer, the final torch was delivered by a ski jumper. Over the years it has become tradition to have the final fire lit by a famous athlete or someone else symbolic of Olympic ideals. Everyone from Mohammad Ali to the 1980 U.S. Olympic Gold Men's hockey team, along with many other notable athletes, has held this honor.

Most people who want to be involved in the relay for the 2010 Vancouver Games have a series of applications to fill out to be eligible for consideration. Official Olympic sponsors each have an allotted number of positions to fill, usually with a theme (like this year's "Pledge" theme by the Royal Bank; each applicant has to write a pledge to Canada, demonstrating how their pledge is relevant to their journey with the torch, the Olympics, and Canada overall). While most spots have already been filled, information is available online as to how to apply for future years (although, you're responsible for your own transportation to and from your relay position, something that might not be practical for someone in Nova Scotia applying for the 2012 London Summer Games).

The whole relay experience (the Olympics in general, to tell you the truth) isn't something I've ever given much though to. It is only after hearing the account of someone personally involved that I looked into the history and came to find how symbolic and extraordinary a journey it is.