The Tradition Of Olympic Flame
By LiveBeijingUpdates
The Olympic torch relay, which is on its Journey of Harmony as the Chinese authorities and a majority of the people from the mainland call it begun its first contemporary journey from Greece to Berlin in 1936, when the Nazi Germany initiated this ritual of modern Olympics.
The tradition of Olympic Flame
comes directly from ancient Greece where the sacred flame was lit by the Sun rays at Olympia and stayed there till the end of the games. The flame had a great undertone to it as it was kept in remembrance to the theft of fire by Prometheus from the Greek god Zeus.The sacred fire was kept in many sanctuaries of Olympia and Greece at that time. During the time of ancient games, which were held in the honor of Zeus, the fire used to be lit at his and his wife Heras temple at the beginning of the celebrations. The flame usedtorepresent protection and struggle for victory.In the modern games it symbolizes, the light of spirit, knowledge and life.
The concept of flame to the games was reintroduced during the games in 1928 that were held in Amsterdam. An employee of the Electric Utility Amsterdam lit the Olympic flame at the Marathon Tower of Olympic Stadium.
The Concept of relay torch was brought back in the summer Olympics of 1936 held in Berlin. The relay begun from Olympia, Greece and ended in Berlin with Hitler claiming stake to the world a demonstration of strength the making of Nazi Germany.
Germany was supposed to host the games held in 1916, but World War-I hooked the hosts and resulted in the cancellation of the event.They were banned from participating in the 1920 Olympics and that of 1924. When Hitler got a chance in 1936, he wanted to construct it on a grand scale. Hitler sought the torch to be fully in the hands of the Germans. To do so he ordered a continuation of German excavations at Olympia while Carl Diem an organizer of the 1936 games came with the idea of the relay.
The tradition of lighting the torch remains still same as the way it was done in ancient Greece the torch is lit using focused rays of the Sun in the temple of Hera (which is in ruins now) by priestesses robed in white dresses all actresses in modern days though.There is a backup of flames which ensures the lineage remains integral in case the torch gets extinguished (same has been done for the Beijing 2008).
Since the first relay of 1936, nations have done different things to make the relays a bit unique to the hosts. In 1976, the flame was sent on an electronic pulse from Athens to Ottawa, where the laser lighted the torch. In 1996, the passing of flame took place in air between two parachute jumpers. While in Sydney 2000, the torch was carried under Great Barrier Reef (presumably protected).
The year 2004 saw the first global torch relay, a journey which lasted for 78 days during which the flame traveled more than 78,000 km and passed through the hands of over 11,300 torchbearers running through Africa and South America for thefirst time and finally returning to the host Athens. This year China is planning to take the torch to the Mount Everest before reaching the Birds Nest for the beginning of summer Olympics 2008.
About the author
livebeijingupdates is a dedicated Olympic website where you can get all Beijing 2008 Updates and information about Olympic venues and Beijing Athletes
from http://www.FreeArticlesAndContent.com
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