Olympic torch started in ancient Greece; torch relay started in Nazi Germany

What the ancient Olympic Flame lighting ceremony in Olympia
might have looked like, NBC Sports

The Olympic flame was born in an an­c­ient Greek temple to honour Hera, queen of the gods. Her shrine was the home of the Olympic Games, a cyp­ress-shaded site in Olym­p­ia where the first Games were held in 776 BC. The flame was carried across Greece to Ath­ens, then handed over to the next Games’ host committee. Olympia was the dep­art­ure point that linked the Ancient and Modern Games. [And it stored Baron de Coub­ertin’s heart].

 

Amsterdam Olympic Games, 1928

First modern games to light a flame in the opening ceremony without a relay

Note the flame on top of the tower

Fritz Schilgen, the last relay runner, entered the Berlin Stadium

1936

Ancient Greeks never had a relay of torchbearers. So why did the mod­ern Olympic flame go on a relay from Olympia each time? It celeb­rat­ed the passing of the sac­red flame of spirit from one man to the next. The re­l­ay thus: a] heralded the next Olympic Games and b] tran­smitted peace & friendship. Because it tra­v­elled thousands of ks, the Olympic flame had to be lit some months be­f­ore each Games started.

The highlight of all Opening Ceremonies was the flame’s entrance into the stadium. The first Modern Games where a flame was lit at the entr­an­ce was the 1928 Amsterdam Games, before lighting the cauldron!

Melbourne 1956

100,000 people watched the cauldron being lit

In 1931 Carl Diem got International Olym­pic Com­m­ittee to give the 1936 Games to Berlin. Hit­ler disliked the modern Olympic move­ment, but propa­gan­da min­ister Jo­seph Goeb­b­els believed the Games would be a huge victory for Nazi Ger­many. Inspired by anc­ient Greek drawings and Plutarch’s writings, Diem and Hit­ler saw the Nazis as the old Greeks’ rightful heirs, so the torch relay was happ­ily co-opted.

Xth Olympiad, 1936: Berlin The Berlin Games began with torch­bearers relaying the flame in Aug. It took 12 days, begin­ning with the flame ceremony in Olympia and passing through 7 partic­ipating nations. c3,330 runners brought the flame across 3075 ks.

C20th Olympics torches protected the flame from the weather, so Ger­man arms manufacturer Krupp de­signed the 1936 steel-clad tor­ches with a magnesium-burning el­em­ent. Olympic run­ner Fritz Schil­gen held the torch up on entering Berlin’s Stadium before 100,000 spectat­ors, selected bec­ause of his Aryan looks. There was wide German media cov­erage of the relay, and dir­ector Leni Rief­enstahl filmed it.

The Games were cancelled until 1948. Examine the Washington Post from 1948. 

XIVth Olympiad, 1948: London. Despite Nazism, UK Games embraced the ritual. Greek Corp­or­al Konstantin Dimit­relis laid down his arms & uniform, then took the torch. The relay took­ 12 days for 1,416 runners to go via 7 countries!

XVth Olympiad, 1952: Helsinki For the first time the flame was trans­ported by airplane from Ath­ens to Den­mark with cel­eb­ratory stops in Munich and Dussel­dorf. The flame went with runners, riders, cyc­lists and sailors to Sw­eden then Finland, taking 13 days to travel 7,870 ks.

XVIth Olympiad, 1956: Melbourne The flame was lit in Olympia in Nov, and taken to Athens. The flame was flown to Aust­ral­ia, with cel­ebr­at­ions being held in Calcut­ta, Bang­kok, Singap­ore, Djakarta and Darw­in. The 20,470 ks relay took 21 days and 3,118 run­ners to reach Melb­ourne.

XVIIth Olympiad, 1960: Rome The 2,750 ks relay began in Aug. The torch was run from Olympia to Athens to the Port of Zea, where the flame was taken by ship to Syrac­use Italy. Then the runners completed the relay to Rome.

XVIIIth Olympiad, 1964: Tokyo In Aug 1964 the plane carrying the flame made stops in Istanbul, Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan, India, Burma, Thai­l­and, Malaysia, Philip­p­in­es, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The runners reun­ited at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace, before proceeding to the Olympic Stadium.

The last relay runner in Tokyo 1964

 after lighting the cauldron

XlXth Olympiad, 1968: Mexico City After Olymp­ia and Athens, the flame was taken to Genoa on a Greek de­s­t­roy­er, t­rac­ing Col­umbus' route to the New World. At Vera Cruz it came ashore and after the 2,778 torch­bearers across the 13,620 ks relay, the first woman lit the cauldron!

XXth Olympiad, 1972: Munich In July the flame was lit in Olympia and travelled to Munich. Over the 5,399 ks relay via Aus­t­ria, runners were joined by cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair athletes.

XXIst Olympiad, 1976: Montreal The flame was passed to 1,200+ torch­bearers. It was transferred to a sen­sor, which transmitted elect­rical impul­ses via satellite, light­ing the flame by a Can­adian laser beam.

XXIInd Olympiad, 1980: Moscow The Torch Relay started in June and lasted 31 days. The 4,915-ks journey fol­lowed the route of the 1936 Torch Relay through Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, then the USSR.

XXIIIrd Olympiad, 1984: Los Angeles The flame was lit in a ceremony with Greek offic­ials and the Los Angeles Olympic Organising Commit­tee. The 84 day torch relay left, landing in NY. It passed via 33 states, using 3,636 runn­ers inc Jim Thor­p­e’s & Jesse Owens’ grand­children.

XXIVth Olympiad, 1988: Seoul In the Athens ceremony, music­ians played traditional Korean music. The flame trav­el­led by plane from Greece to southern Korea, then through all of Korea's and historical areas. c1,900 runners, horses and boats shared in the 15,250 ks long relay.

XXVth Olympiad, 1992: Barcelona In June the flame was lit at the ancient site in Ol­ympia, then journeyed from the Panath­enaic Stadium in Athens and was taken to an ancient Greek colony in Spain. The Relay took 43 days, and covered 5,940 ks, by runners and some cyc­lists.

Thousands of people cheer on the torch

relay runners, London 2012