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Relay: Modern-Day Tradition
While the ancient Greeks used a flame to mark the beginning and end of Olympic competition, the idea of a relay is relatively new. Nadine Wimmer has more on this modern-day tradition.
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(Dec. 8, 2001)------
Mitt Romney/President, SLOC: "I THINK THIS FLAME WILL IGNITE A FIRE WITHIN ALL OF US THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HARD TO PREDICT."
But how does one light the Olympic Flame? Well, the flame is lit using a skaphia-- a parabolic dish which concentrates the sun's rays, producing the flame itself. The sacred act is performed by a Greek High Priestess.
After the torch is lit, it is sped away from Olympia, Greece, across the Peloponessian Pennisula to Athens. Here in the first arena of the modern games, built in 1896, the flame is ceremoniously passed to the host city and then is placed in a lantern and secured on an airplane.
Nadine Wimmer/Eyewitness to the Games: "THERES ACTUALLY A PERSON ON BOARD WHOSE SOLE JOB IS TO MONITOR THE FLAME AND HOW HIGH IT BURNS. IF IT BURNS TOO HIGH, IT COULD RUN OUT OF FUEL BEFORE WE LAND IN ATLANTA."
That flight is not your normal everyday connection.
Capt. Chip Sassone/Delta Airlines: "TO BE ABLE TO BRING THE TORCH BACK TO THE UNITED STATES FROM GREECE. WE'RE ALL VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT...VERY HONORED."
Once the flame touched down on American soil, it began it's journey to Utah.
Caroline Shaw, Chief Communications Officer, SLOC: "THERE WASN'T A DRY EYE IN THE CROWD, WHEN MUHAMMAD ALI TOOK THE FLAME AND LIT IT AND WHEN PEGGY FLEMING AND HER COACH RAN OFF AND BEGAN THE RELAY."
From there, the flame left on it's 65-day journey across the United States.
Caroline Shaw/Chief Communications Officer, SLOC: "IT IS GOING TO GO 13,500 MILES ACROSS 46 STATES WITH 11,500 PEOPLE HAVING THE HONOR OF CARRYING THE OLYMPIC FLAME ACROSS THE COUNTRY LEADING UP TO THAT MAGICAL MOMENT ON FEB. 8TH, WHEN THE CAULDRON IS LIT AT RICE ECCLEES STADIUM."
Before that moment, it will travel in all means possible. Friday morning, a Coast Gaurd cutter took it from Charleston, South Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida.
The torch will also ride a dog sled in Alaska, and there will be other memorable moments.
The first relay was just 12 days long, leading up to the 1936 games in Berlin.
It has grown in nature since concieved by Dr. Carl Diem during the 1936 Games. Back then, the relay took only 12-days, with runners being the sole mode of transportation.
In 1968, it re-traced the route Christopher Columbus took in his voyage of discovery and the longest Torch Relay ever was during the Sydney Games--Over 27-thousand kilometers.
And all along this much-celebrated flame symbolizes different ideals to a variety of people.
MITT ROMNEY, SLOC: "WELL THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS IN THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT THAT SEEM TO BE SYMBOLIC. THAT TAKES ON A MEANING GREATER THAN THEY OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE. AND THE FLAME IS CERTIANLY ONE OF THOSE." "WHAT DOES IT SYMBOLIZE?" "I THINK THE HEART AND PASSION OF THE OLYMPIANS. THE FLAME THAT BURNS WITHIN THEM IS SOMETHING WE LOOKED AT AND IT IGNITES THE FLAME WITHIN US."
Nadine Wimmer, for Eyewitness to the Games.
The torch travels 12-hours a day - an average of 208 miles, with only a couple of stops for celebrations.
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