The origin of the Olympic flame

Fire is an important motive force of human civilization and a sacred object in the hearts of our ancestors. As an important part of the sports meeting, the torch has a history of more than 2700 years. Legend has it that Mount Olympia in ancient Greece was the habitat of the gods. In memory of Prometheus, the fire god who stole fire for mankind, the local people hold a sacrificial ceremony in front of the altar every four years.

The lighting ceremony of the ancient Olympic Games originated from the myth that humans stole the flame from the sky in ancient Greece. In front of Zeus in Olympia, the sacred flame was lit on the altar according to religious ceremonies, and then the torch was taken to various city-states to convey the message that the Olympic Games were about to begin. All city-states must stop fighting, forget hatred and war, and actively prepare for the Olympic Games. Therefore, the torch symbolizes peace, light, unity and friendship.

According to the tradition of the Olympic Games, the torch should arrive in the host city the day before the opening ceremony and be lit on the opening day. The torch must abide by the Olympic ceremony during the journey or in the celebration of its arrival in the host city, and shall not be used for advertising. However, with the help of the Olympic torch, the host country often arranges representative and distinctive figures, such as Olympic gold medal winners who win glory for their country, hold the torch high in front of enthusiastic and appreciative audiences, and then run to the torch platform to light the flame after a round trip.

The flame must be located in an obvious position in the general assembly field and have a good view. It is best to see the flames outside the conference hall. During the Olympic Games, the flame cannot be extinguished. When the flame goes out, the Olympic Games is officially over.

The Berlin Olympic torch was first lit.

In the Olympic history, the Berlin Olympic Games was used by Hitler as a tool to promote Nazism, so this Olympic Games became one of the few stains in the Olympic history. However, it was at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936 that the world saw the lighting of the Olympic flame for the first time, and it was from this Olympic Games that the Olympic flame began its journey to shine around the world.

On July 20th, a grand torch lighting ceremony was held in Olympia. 12 The girls dressed in Greek national costumes lit the first torch with the accompaniment of music. Coubertin, former president of the International Olympic Committee, visited the venue and delivered a speech. Then, the 1 km torch relay officially began. The torch relay passed through Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia and arrived in Berlin in the early morning of August 1. From Olympia to Berlin Stadium, the whole journey is 3,075 kilometers, and 3,075 people participated in the relay. Starting from this Olympic Games, lighting the Olympic flame is one of the essential ceremonies in the opening ceremony of each Olympic Games.

1956 Melbourne Olympic flame illuminates the southern hemisphere for the first time.

16 The Olympic Games was held in Melbourne, Australia on122 October, 1956 165438. This is the first time that a country in the southern hemisphere has hosted the Olympic Games. The most memorable thing about this Olympic Games is the joint participation of the Democratic Republic of Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany. Accompanied by ode to joy, they used black, red and yellow flags with five rings as the league flag.

1964 The Tokyo Olympic torch was first lit in Asia.

101October10, 18 The Olympic Games opened in Tokyo, Japan. The weather that had been cloudy the previous week suddenly got better that day. The United States even launched the "Sinkem" satellite to broadcast the Olympic Games to the whole world, which is the first time in history.

The Olympic Games held a grand torch relay. On August 2 1 day, the torch was lit in Olympia, transported by air to Kagoshima, Japan on September 9, and then delivered in four routes. The four routes are 84 kilometers long. The last person to light the Olympic flame was Ji Ze Sakai, a 0/9-year-old student from Waseda University. He was born on the day when the atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima (1August 6, 945). The Olympic flame is a symbol of peace. It is obvious that Sakai lit the flame.

1976 Montreal satellite relay Olympic flame

The sports meeting officially opened on July 17. The Olympic torch relay took a different way. It was ignited in Olympia on July 65438, 2003. After the torch relay to Athens, it was transmitted to Ottawa, the capital of Canada, by satellite laser technology, not by ship, plane or relay. At that time, the flame lit in Greece was captured by sensors and transmitted to Ottawa on the other side of the globe, and the Olympic flame was copied by decoding the pulse signal from the satellite.

This kind of communication seems novel, but later it was criticized by many people. Later Olympic Games never followed this practice.

Underwater relay of the 2000 Sydney Olympic flame

The design of the torch relay route of this Olympic Games is unique. The organizers made full use of various modes of delivery, such as land, sea and air, and the Olympic torch was even taken to the seabed by divers for underwater delivery.

In 2004, five continents shared the Olympic glory in Athens.

The torch relay before the opening of the Olympic Games created many firsts. In order to commemorate the Olympic Games' return to hometown, the organizing committee carefully designed the torch relay route. For the first time, the Olympic torch spread all over five continents and reached Africa and South America for the first time, giving people all over the world the opportunity to participate in and experience this grand event. The flame spread all over the cities that hosted the Summer Olympic Games in history, giving these cities the opportunity to witness the Olympic flame with their own eyes and experience the happiness brought by the Olympic Games again.

In addition, the torch has also reached some cities with special significance, such as Brussels, the central city of the European Union, Lausanne, where ioc headquarters is located, and Beijing, the host city of the next Olympic Games. The whole torch relay process lasted 78 days, covering 78,000 kilometers around the world, covering all administrative regions and all states in Greece.