Transcript ***** 1

Olympic
Flame
1. The beginning of the
Olympics
Every four years the world watches the Olympic
Games, which start when somebody from the host
country carries a torch into the stadium and lights the
flame in the opening ceremony.
The flame
continues to
burn through
the games until
it is
extinguished in
the closing
ceremony.
2. The history of the flame
This is a tradition that started in ancient Greece,
when a fire burnt throughout the ancient
Olympics, but it wasn’t introduced to the
modern games until 1928.
In 1936 Carl Diem, a
German sports
official, came up with
the idea of an
Olympic torch relay
for the 1936 Summer
Olympics in Berlin.
3. Lighting the torch
The Olympic torch is lit many months the
opening ceremony at Olympia, the site of the
ancient Olympics Greece.
Eleven women take part and one of them lights
the torch from the sun using a special mirror.
After this there is a ceremony in the Athenian
Panathinaiko Stadium where the Athens city
authorities deliver the torch to the officials of
the host city.
4. Carrying the torch
Traditionally, runners, including athletes,
celebrities and ordinary people carry the torch
on a journey from Athens to the host city.
5. The end of the journey
The relay ends when the torch arrives at the
Olympic stadium where the Games will take
place.
The final carrier of the
torch is often kept secret
until the last moment, and
is usually a famous
sportsman or woman.
They run around
the track and
towards a huge
cauldron, which is
usually at the top
of a staircase.
They use the torch to light the Olympic flame.
The symbolic meaning of the flame
6. The symbolic
meaning of the
flame
Originally the flame represented the 'endeavour
for protection and struggle for victory'.
Since it was introduced again in 1928, it has
come to represent the ‘light of spirit,
knowledge, and life‘.