Olympic Torch

Kids Learning

Olympic Torch

During Olympics we all stick to our television set and generally don\’t want to miss our favorite sports. Our fanaticism for the Olympics starts with the Olympic torch that marks the beginning of the Olympic Games. From the very ancient times, a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the Olympic Games. Lets know more about this Olympic torch. The torch or the flame is ignited several months before the commencement of the celebration of the Olympic Games at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. Eleven women, representing the roles of priestesses, complete a ceremony in which the torch is kindled by the light of the sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror. After being lit the flame continues to burn throughout the celebration of the Olympics until it is extinguished at the closing ceremony of the games. In 2004, the first global torch relay was undertaken, a journey that lasted 78 days. The Olympic flame covered a distance of more than 78,000km in the hands of some 11,300 torchbearers. The final carrier of the torch is usually a sports celebrity from the host country. The relay of the flame was introduced by Carl Diem, with the support of Joseph Goebbels, at the controversial Berlin Olympics as a means to promote Nazi ideology.