List of Olympic torch relays
The Olympic Torch Relay is an opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the modern era, which has been running since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The tradition of the Olympic flame goes back to Greek antiquity; the fire was lit in honor of the goddess Hestia.
- 3.1 torch relays Summer Olympics
- 3.2 Torch runs the Olympic Winter Games
- 3.3 Torch runs the Youth Olympic Games
History
Origins in Ancient Greece
During the Olympic Games of antiquity no torch runs were performed. To announce the other Greek cities the competitions and their exact time, broke olive branch -winning runner on of Elis. They called from the Olympic Truce ( Ekecheiria ): During the Olympic Games of antiquity all hostilities should rest for athletes and spectators could travel safely to Olympia. Originally torch relays (Greek lampadedromia ) is a particularly popular in Athens nocturnal race with torches, which was later performed on horseback. The competition consisted of as quickly as possible to reach the goal, without letting go off the torch. These runs were especially held in the feasts of Pan, Artemis and the Panathenaic and Prometheen in honor of the Olympic fire gods. Later in Ancient Greece were " runners " messengers that send messages to different people, cities ( polis ), whose governor and brought to distant citizens. These mostly young men brought about peace, war and other news. According to legend, from this the marathon has evolved.
First Olympic torch relay in National Socialism
At the Olympic Games of the modern era was first ignited an Olympic fire at the Summer Olympic Games in 1928 in Amsterdam. However, there was neither a torch relay before the opening ceremony nor the flame of a known person was inflamed.
Based on an idea by Alfred ship and Carl Diem, the first torch relay at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin was organized under the direction Joseph Goebbels ' by the Nazis. The torches were produced by the arms company Krupp made of wood and metal in the form of an olive tree leaf. After the flame, the Olympic flame had been ignited by a burning mirror in Ancient Olympia, she was carried over 3187 km of 3331 runners, which made up the baton, in twelve days and eleven nights from Greece to Berlin. The torch relay was staged by Leni Riefenstahl in the film "Olympia".
The youth organization of the Communist Party of Greece OKNE planned, but without success, to prevent getting through the Olympic torch to Germany: " All organizations, through their influence areas, the flame should be worn, were called to exterminate on Greek soil, and it was announced that the organization to which it would be possible to extinguish the flame, get a prize. " In Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, there were protests that were crushed by security forces. Nevertheless, we succeeded demonstrators in Prague, delete the torch temporarily.
For the Olympic Winter Games, the flame was lit for the first time at the 1936 Games in Garmisch -Partenkirchen.
Olympic torch relay in the postwar period
The ceremonies of the torch relay and the lighting of the Olympic flame as part of each opening of the Olympic Summer Games were taken largely uncritical. 1952 took place before the discharge in Oslo the first torch relay at the Winter Olympics instead. Because the Norwegian Morgedal was regarded as the birthplace of skiing, he started there and not as usual in Olympia. The fire was not ignited by a concave mirror, but at the stove in the cabin of Sondre Norheim, a famous Norwegian skier. Before the Winter Games in Lillehammer 1994, the flame was extinguished in January 1994 in Cologne by protesting students.
Since the Summer Olympics in Sydney in 2000, the stations are selected worldwide, and since 2004 on every continent. At the Winter Games, the route is shorter. World-renowned companies sponsor since the 1990s, the Olympic Torch Relay. So invested Coca -Cola and Samsung 2004, approximately 18 million euros in the torch relay.
" Journey of Harmony " before the Summer Games in Beijing 2008
To violent protests occurred in the torch relay under the official slogan " Journey of Harmony " in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, especially in Europe and the United States. Already during the traditional ignition of the flame in Olympia broke three demonstrators of the organization Reporters Without Borders, including a Tibetan, the ceremony and unfurled a banner was to be read on the ". Boycott the country that takes the human with feet " China wanted that the torch was also supported by the shook of unrest province of Tibet.
In the aftermath of the Olympic torch relay was always accompanied by protests. The torch was constantly protected during the entire route by a specially trained for this purpose Chinese unit.
- In London, dozens of people broke through in April 2008, the barricades along the streets and threw the runners in the way. More than a thousand civil rights activists demonstrated against the Tibet policy of the People's Republic of China.
- On 7 April 2008 the torch relay in Paris was canceled despite a banns of approximately 3000 police officers due to protests, which resulted in the flame went out several times. According to the French police, the cause of the extinction of the flame is due to " technical problems". The torch has been transported under police protection in a secured bus and temporarily brought to a secret location.
- Also in San Francisco, there were incidents. On April 8, climbed three protibetische protesters high at the Golden Gate Bridge and attached to it two banners, the " One world one dream" and "Free Tibet" announced. As the protesters were climbing down from the bridge, they were arrested. On April 9, the torch was then closely guarded supported by San Francisco, partly through empty streets as the route for fear of demonstrations was changed and shortened the short term. The first runner even had to be transported by bus from the port to the city center. The IOC President Jacques Rogge reassured, however, that the torch relay would not be canceled despite a momentary crisis.
- On April 17, the torch in New Delhi, the Indian capital, received from the public. The ( shortened ) running through the city was relatively quiet. 15,000 policemen were deployed. The day before, hundreds of Tibetans demonstrated outside the Chinese embassy in Delhi.
- Australia threatened with the arrest of the Chinese torch guards, they should intervene in the torch relay in Canberra on April 24. The Australian Government stressed that the safety of the torch will alone ensured by the Australian police. The torch guards were unpleasantly noticeable in other cities.
- To ensure the torch relay in Tibet ascents of Mount Everest were temporarily forbidden by both Chinese as well as by Nepalese authorities. On the Chinese side of the torch relay was backed military in Tibet. The car brand Audi was the exclusive sponsor of this section, but gave up a planned promotion front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
In response to the protests, the IOC decided on 27 March 2009, to restrict the torch relay to the respective host country in future Olympics. The scheme will take effect as the 2016 Summer Olympics; the organizers of the Games in 2010 and 2012, announced in 2009, to waive a global torch relay.
Organization and regulations
The opening ceremony is organized by the National Olympic Committee of Greece. The Olympic flame is lit in Olympia, Greece a few months before the opening of the Olympic Games of actresses in the role of priestesses in front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera. Clothing and choreography follow ancient models. The fire is lit using a parabolic mirror through bundling of sunlight and then carried in a clay pot in the old stadium. There, the flame will pass through the " High Priestess " the first runner using a torch. If the sun does not shine during the official ceremony, there is a Plan B: days before the fire is lit in the prescribed manner and kept in a safety lamp, where the " High Priestess " can ignite her torch in a fair-weather period.
First stop is the ancient Panathenaic stadium in Athens, where the first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896. The further course is organized by the organizing committee of the respective Olympic Games.
The torch is normally carried by relay runners on foot, at the Games in Berlin in 1936 and Moscow in 1980 she was carried exclusively on foot, over longer distances, but it is a promotion with other means of transport such as horse, car, bike, plane or boat possible. In order to ensure safe transport, the flame can be placed in a miner's lamp. Unusual transport of 1976 the virtual transmission by satellite, 1992, the transport on the Concorde, 1994, the transfer during a parachute jump and 2000 by divers in the sea off the coast of Australia.
The rotors are not only celebrities and unknown people to join the torch relay. The highlight of the journey of the Olympic torch is the opening of the Olympic Games. The final runner, usually an athlete or celebrity, ignited the Olympic flame in the stadium. As long as the Olympic flame is burning, the people should have their disputes to rest and work on joint these sporting competitions. The Olympic flame will be deleted during the graduation ceremony.
Torches were formerly supplied by pitch or petroleum, modern torches are operated with gas cartridges. Throughout the torch relay the Olympic flame must not go out; otherwise they would have to be re-ignited, according to the ceremony in Olympia. For this reason, the mother flame is carried in backup lamps, of which the flame can be taken over again. It is disputed that the torch relay will be accompanied by the security forces of the host country since 2004.