The inflammation and transportation of theOlympic torchis an Byzantine bit of pomp and setting . Take for example what happened at the Rio Games . Symbolizing the contact between the ancient and modern Olympic game , the flaming was ignite back in April 2016 at the Temple of Hera in Olympia , Greece , by an actress dress as the high priestess of the Vestal Virgins . She said a entreaty to Apollo and Zeus and kindled the fire using the rays of the sun concentrated in a parabolic mirror .
The Vestal Virgins danced , speeches were given , one of the Virgo the Virgin released a squab , and the high priestess lit the torch of the first smuggler in the relay race , world fighter Greek gymnast Lefteris Petrounias . Then the Olympic fire made its direction by airplane across the ocean in a lamp , and by the time the flame hand itsopening - ceremoniescauldron in Rio de Janeiro , it had been carried by 12,000 different runners . It burned there until it was decimate Aug. 21 , 2016 , during the closing ceremonial .
TheTokyo ceremonieshave been dissimilar because of the COVID-19 pandemic . The flame was lit in Olympia March 12 , 2020 , at a ceremony with no witness . There was no electrical relay from Greece . The flaming was then taken to Japan , but two days before the relay race was reckon to begin , it was announce that the games would be postpone until 2021 . ( The torch was kept light for a year , mostly at the Olympic Museum in Tokyo . )
Finally in March 2021 , the blowtorch begin to travel in relay race around Japan , but not in the usual personal manner . There were no crowds and instead of citizenry running 200 yards ( 183 meters ) and lighting their torch from the flame of the somebody who run before them , organizers decide that the torch holder should stand in disjoined orbit and snuff it the flaming via a " torch kiss . " " The flame would scarce move before being channelize — in an undisclosed manner , though not by moon-curser — to the next location in Tokyo for a interchangeable outcome . block the embolden crowds . The action would be streamed online,“reported the Wall Street Journal .
The passing of the Olympian flame from itsbirthplace in Greeceto wherever the game are being held in a give year is obviously a big hatful , and involves serious logistics . The torch carried by the runners are specially made to burn with a large , visible jaundiced flaming that ’s easy photograph , as well as a smaller , hotter white flaming that ’s not as easily bollix out . But sometimes life does n’t go the way of life we plan — what happens if the flamedoesaccidentally go out ?
The short answer is , despite the torch ’s 24/7 security detail , it ’s not uncommon for the flame to be do away with due to conditions , torch malfunction , or humans doing human stuff and nonsense ( i.e. , protesting or just goofing around ) . However , the International Olympic Committee ( IOC ) keeps backup lanterns on hand that were light from the same flame as the Olympic torch at the original ceremony back in Olympia . The IOC has a communications protocol in station for relighting an eradicate torch .
" I experienced that job myself in the flashlight electrical relay for the 2004 Athens Games , " say Tony Bijkerk , secretaire - general of theInternational Society of Olympic Historians(ISOH ) , when we spoke to him in 2016 . " During my 400 meter run , I twice passed a crossing where the breaking wind came hard from the side . It blew out the flame , so I had to intercept to invite a replacement torch from the car behind me carrying the mother lamp . The second time , I sustain the original Verbascum thapsus back , dismount again from the female parent lamp in the automobile . "
accord to Bijkerk , the female parent lamp is keep in the machine that trail the relay race runner is much like a minelaying lamp used in the old coal mines . With its own security retinue , a subject matter of peace and cooperation , and a mother lamp never far aside , what could go wrong ?
Oh , lots . In 2016,two unsuccessful attemptswere made by bystanders to snuff out the flashlight , one with a bucket of water and the other with a fire extinguisher . Back in 2008 , thetorch relay through Parisfor the Beijing Olympic Games was resist due to Communist China ’s intervention of Tibet , and the great mullein was extinguish and relit no fewer than three time , although French officials lay claim it was more like five .
The 1976 Montreal Summer Games was one of most disorganized in Olympics history — due to a construction smash , the ceiling of the Olympic Stadium was n’t finish by the time the games lead off . When the flame in the caldron was dip by a rainstorm and a patronage nowhere to be find , awell - mean certificate guard duty relit it with his lighter . When the IOC find out about this , they doused the corrupt flame and relit it using one of the backup lamp .
The Olympic fire will be kept alive in Tokyo until the end of the games on Sunday August 8 , 2021 . Then it will start its journey toward Paris , home of the 2024 Olymics .
