The Olympic flame, one of the main symbols of the Games, serves as a reminder to athletes of the feat of Prometheus, who stole the fire from Zeus and gave it to people. The Olympic torch is invariably lit from the sun at the temple of Zeus in Olympia, delivered to the main arena and does not go out throughout the competition.
The Olympic flame is one of the main symbols of the Games, invariably accompanying the competition from beginning to end since Ancient Greece. From year to year, the organizers come up with more and more sophisticated forms of fire transportation, opening and closing ceremonies. Only one thing is stable - the flame illuminating the Olympic rings.
The Olympic flame has become a symbol of ancient competitions in the Peloponnese.
In ancient Greece, fire symbolized purification, rebirth.
The Olympic fire served as a reminder of the feat of the titan Prometheus, who, according to legend, stole fire from Zeus and gave it to people. He ascended to heaven with the help of Athena and raised the torch to the sun. Prometheus brought fire to people, hiding it in a hollow reed stalk, and showed how to keep it, sprinkling it with ashes. But the noble titan did not stop there. Prometheus taught people to find, mine and use earthly treasures - copper and iron, silver and gold. He opened healing herbs to people and breathed into them will, courage, hope, selflessness. Prometheus knew that he was doing this against the will of Zeus, he knew that he was threatened by the wrath of the almighty god. But now he also knew what happiness it was to help the weak and see their enlightened, smiling faces.
For stealing fire, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to nail Prometheus to the Caucasus Range. He was doomed to incessant torment: an eagle flying every day pecked at Prometheus's liver, which grew again. These torments, according to various ancient sources, lasted from several centuries to 30 thousand years, until Hercules killed an eagle with an arrow and freed Prometheus.
The act of Prometheus indicated the qualities that an athlete should possess - purposefulness, courage and courage.
After all, a weak-willed coward will not steal fire from the gods. So in sports - the gold of the Games as a reward for courage. The fire burns from the beginning to the end of the Olympic Games, reminding athletes of the place of heroism in their lives.
In 776 BC, athletes began to compete in the ancient Olympic Games. Especially for their opening, the fire was lit and transported to the finish line. The process of delivering the Olympic flame involved maintaining the purity and strength of the natural elements in a continuous state. This was taken care of by 10 Athenian tribes, who allocated 40 trained young men for this process. These youths delivered a torch from the altar of Prometheus straight to the Athenian altar. The distance was 2.5 kilometers.
During the revival of the idea of holding the Games, the international Olympic movement did not pay enough attention to symbolism.
The initial task of Pierre de Coubertin and his associates was the stable holding of the Olympic Games, so the IOC solved more applied problems.
IN recent history the idea of lighting the Olympic flame from the sun's rays at the temple of Zeus in Olympia (by analogy with the ritual at the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece) and its delivery by a torch relay to the Olympic stadium for the opening ceremony of the Games was expressed by de Coubertin in 1912.
You can light a torch only from the sun (though using a special mirror) - there should not be any artificial sources of fire. Mother nature and the gods themselves must give the go-ahead for holding. In addition to the main torch, special lamps are also lit from the Olympic flame, designed to store fire in case the main torch (or even the fire at the Games themselves) goes out for any reason. For example, in 1976 in Montreal, the fire went out due to a rainstorm.
The first modern Olympic flame was lit at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.
An employee of the Amsterdam Electricity Company lit the first Olympic flame in the bowl of the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, and since then this ritual has been an integral attribute of the modern Olympic Games.
In 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1994 the Olympic flame Winter Games was lit in the Norwegian village of Morgendal in the fireplace of the house where the founder of the Norwegian skiing Sondre Nordheim. Then the surprises began from the organizers, who tried not only to deliver the fire to themselves safe and sound, but to do it in the most memorable way possible.
After the Olympic flame safely reaches the venue of the Games, the relay race begins, during which the torch travels through the expanses of the host country.
The Olympic torch relay was first held during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. More than 3 thousand runners participated in the delivery of the torch from Olympia to Berlin. August 1, 1936 the fire was lit by the German athlete Fritz Schilgen. On the winter olympics ah, the relay race was first held in 1952 before the Oslo Games, although the Olympic flame was lit in 1936 and 1948. The first relay did not start in Olympia, but in Morgendal.
The arrival of the Olympic flame in its final home for the duration of all the Games, where it is handed over to the last (and most important) torchbearer, and he already solemnly opens the Olympics.
As a rule, the honor to light a fire is trusted famous person, most often an athlete.
The organizers are trying to keep the scenario of this last stage, as well as the name of the hero, a secret until the last, in order to make the spectacle as exciting as possible.
On October 7 this year, the torch of the Sochi Olympics will be delivered to Moscow, and the largest relay race in history will begin. The fire will visit all regions of the country, rise to Elbrus, sink to the bottom of Lake Baikal, reach the North Pole and, as expected, even fly into space. In 123 days, the Olympic flame will pass through 2900 settlements of the country. According to calculations, 90% of the Russian population will be within an hour's reach from the relay route, thus, about 130 million people in our country will be able to become direct spectators and participants in the relay. The relay will be attended by 14,000 torchbearers and 30,000 volunteers.
The history of the Olympic flame originates in ancient Greece. This tradition reminded people of the legend. According to legend, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to people. How it started modern history Olympic flame? More on this later in the article.
When did they start lighting fires?
In which city did the ancient Greek tradition continue? In 1928, the modern history of the Olympic flame began in Amsterdam. Before the games in Berlin, in 1936, the first relay was held. The author of the idea was the Ritual of the Relay of Fire, which then perfectly suited the ideological doctrine of the Nazis. He embodied several symbols and ideas at once. The torch was designed by Walter Lemke. A total of 3840 pieces were made. The torch was 27 centimeters long and weighed 450 grams. It was made from stainless steel. A total of 3331 runners participated in the Relay. At the opening ceremony of the Games in Berlin, the Olympic flame was lit by Fritz Schilgen. Over the next few years International competitions were not carried out. Reason was 2. World War started by Hitler.
The history of the Olympic flame has continued since 1948 - then the following games took place. London became the host of the competition. Two variants of torches were made. The first was for the Relay. It was made of aluminum, fuel tablets were placed inside it. The second option was intended for the final stage at the stadium. It was made of stainless steel, and magnesium burned inside it. This allowed even in the bright light of day to see the burning fire. The first Relay of the Winter Games started in the Norwegian town of Morgedal. This place was very popular among slalomists and ski jumpers. I must say that in Norway there has long been a tradition of skiing at night with a torch in hand. The skiers decided to deliver the symbol International Games in Oslo. For these competitions, 95 torches were made, the handle of each had a length of 23 centimeters. On the bowl was an arrow that connected Oslo and Morgedal.
Helsinki, Cortina, Melbourne
The Finns were the most economical. A total of 22 torches were made for the Helsinki Olympics. They were attached (total 1600 pieces), each was enough for about 20 minutes of burning. In this regard, they had to be changed relatively often. The symbol of the games was made in the form of a bowl planted on a birch handle. Next Games were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, in northern Italy. Part of the Torch Relay then took place on roller skates. Probably one of the prototypes for the design of the symbol of the games in Australia was the version created for the London competition. Simultaneously with the Australian Olympics, equestrian competitions were held in Stockholm. In connection with this, the symbol of the games went to two countries at once: Sweden and Australia.
Squaw Valley, Rome, Tokyo
The organization of the closing and opening ceremonies of the 1960 International Games in California was entrusted to Disney. The design of the competition symbol combined elements of the Melbourne and London torches. In the same year, the games were held in Rome. The design of the games symbol was inspired by antique sculptures. The Olympic flame was delivered to Tokyo by land, sea and air. In Japan itself, the flame was divided, it was carried in 4 directions and connected at the end of the Relay into one whole.
Grenoble, Mexico City, Sapporo
The route of the Olympic flame through France was filled with adventure. So, through the Puy de Sancy mountain pass, the symbol of the games had to be literally crawled because of a snow storm. Through the port of Marseille, the torch was carried by a swimmer in an outstretched hand. The relay race in Mexico City is considered the most traumatic. All three hundred torches outwardly looked like whisks used to beat eggs. At the opening ceremony of the competition, a woman lit a bowl of flame for the first time. Inside the torches was fuel, which turned out to be highly flammable. During the Relay, several runners suffered burns. During the games in Sapporo, the length of the relay was more than five thousand kilometers, and more than 16 thousand people participated in it. The height of the torch was 70.5 cm. Just like before the competition in Tokyo, this time the flame was divided and carried in different directions so that the torch could greet as many people as possible.
Munich, Innsbruck, Montreal
The torch of the games in Munich was made of stainless steel. In various weather conditions, in addition to extremely hot, he passed tests for "endurance". When, on the way to Germany from Greece, the air temperature rose to 46 degrees, a sealed torch was used. The "relative" of the Munich became the symbol of the games in Innsbruck. Like the previous one, it was made in the form of a sword, which was decorated at the top. At the opening ceremony, two bowls were lit at once - as a sign that the competitions were held here for the second time. "Space" transmission of the flame took place in honor of the opening of the games in Montreal. At these competitions, special attention was paid to how the fire would look from TV screens. To enhance the effect, it was placed in a black square mounted on a red handle. Until that moment, the history of the Olympic flame had not yet known such a transmission of the flame. In the form of a laser beam, with the help of a satellite, it was transferred from continent to continent: to Ottawa from Athens. In Canada, the bowl was lit in the traditional way.
Lake Placid, Moscow, Sarajevo
The relay race in honor of the games in the USA began where the first settlements were founded by the British. The number of participants in the race was small, and they all represented the states of the United States. A total of 26 women and 26 men ran. The symbol of the competition did not feature any new design. In Moscow, the torch again acquires an unusual shape with a golden top and a golden decorative detail on the handle with the emblem of the games. Before the competition, the manufacture of the symbol was ordered by a fairly large company in Japan. But after the Soviet officials saw the result, they were extremely disappointed. The Japanese, of course, apologized, moreover, they paid a penalty to Moscow. After the manufacture was entrusted to the Leningrad representative office of the Ministry of Aviation Industry. Torch for games in Moscow eventually became quite convenient. Its length was 550 mm and weight - 900 grams. It was made of aluminum and steel, a nylon gas cylinder was built inside.
Los Angeles, Calgary, Seoul
The 1984 U.S. Olympics were full of scandals. Firstly, the organizers offered the athletes to run their stages for 3,000 dollars/km. Of course, this caused a wave of indignation among the founders of the competition - the Greeks. The torch was made of steel and brass, the handle was trimmed with leather. For the first time, the slogan of the competition was engraved on the symbol of the games in Calgary. The torch itself was relatively heavy, weighing about 1.7 kg. It was made in the form of a tower - the sights of Calgary. Pictograms were made on the handle with a laser, which personified winter views sports. A torch made of copper, leather and plastic was prepared for the games in Seoul. Its design bore similarities to its Canadian predecessor. A distinctive feature of the symbol of the games in Seoul was a truly Korean engraving: two dragons, which symbolized the harmony of East and West.
Albertville, Barcelona, Lillehammer
The games in France (in Albertville) ushered in an era of extravagant designs for the competition symbol. Philippe Starck, who became famous for his furniture, was involved in the creation of the torch shape. The torch of the games in Barcelona was radically different from all the previous ones. The symbol was designed by André Ricard. According to the author's idea, the torch was supposed to express the "Latin" character. The bowl at the opening ceremony was lit by an archer who shot an arrow straight into its center. A ski jumper carried the torch into the Lillehammer stadium, holding it at arm's length in flight. As before the competition in Oslo, the flame was lit not in Greece, but in Mordegal. But the Greeks protested, and the fire was brought to Lillehammer from Greece. He was entrusted to the ski jumper.
Games in Sochi 2014
The model of the torch, its concept and project were invented Initially, polycarbonate and titanium were assumed as materials for its manufacture. However, aluminum was used in production. This torch has become one of the heaviest of all that have ever been. Its weight was more than one and a half kilograms (the photo of the Olympic flame in Sochi is presented above). The height of the "feather" is 95 centimeters, at its widest point the width is 14.5 cm, and the thickness is 5.4 centimeters. Takova Short story Olympic flame. For children living in Russia, the games in Sochi have become a truly significant event. The symbolism of the competition has become loved by adults as well.
Thursday, April 21, three and a half months before the start XXXI Olympic games in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, in Greece on the plains of Olympia by tradition. It was held by 11 virgins, personifying the priestesses of the Olympic flame. Chief among them was the famous Greek actress Katerina Lehu. It was the high priestess who, having said a prayer, tilted the mirror so that the sun's rays gathered from its reflection into a beam would give the world a sacred fire.
Olympic flame lighting ceremony in Greece
From her hands, the torch with fire migrated to the world champion in gymnastics Eleftherios Petrunias. He became the first torchbearer in the Olympic torch relay, which will pass through the territory of Greece and Brazil and end on the day the Olympics start - August 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. During the 95 days of the relay, the flame will cover a distance of 20,000 kilometers by land and another 10,000 miles by air, having visited 329 settlements in Brazil.
Interestingly, during the Greek part of the relay race, a Syrian refugee, one of the residents of a specialized camp located almost in the path of fire not far from Athens, will also receive the right to carry fire. In Brazil, the starting point will be the presidential palace in the capital of the country, where he will be met by the president Dilma Rousseff, which in this moment is going through a difficult period of life, being under the impeachment procedure.
But this is all recent history. We want to look into the depths of the centuries in order to trace the history of the emergence of the Olympic flame and the formation of the tradition of the “fiery” relay race.
From Prometheus to Goebbels
The tradition of lighting a fire during the Olympic Games appeared at the same time when the first sports competitions began to be held in Ancient Greece. Thus, people paid tribute to the mythological character named Prometheus, who was the first of the people to climb the sacred Mount Olympus, where the gods lived, and stole from them the fire that they hid from people. This is one of the turning points in the history of civilization, and the Greeks could not bypass it.
During the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, this tradition was forgotten. There was no fire, no relay. This went on for quite some time. For the first time, the flame of the Olympic flame fluttered over the stadium in Amsterdam when the 1928 Olympics were held there. Especially for the torch, a high column was built, so that the fire could be seen at a great distance. But then this fire was just a symbol and was lit right on the spot. The same thing happened at the next Olympics in 1932.
The fire-lighting ceremony in Greece and the relay race, such as we know it today and had the good fortune to watch in our country from 2013 to 2014 before the start of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, came to us in 1936.The right to host that Olympics went to Germany, where the Nazi regime had already been established. Adolf Hitler. For the Third Reich, this was more than just a competition. Firstly, the Germans simply had to show the best achievements in order to actually prove the superiority of their nation over all the others. Secondly, the Olympics was supposed to reinforce the Nazi ideology in the country and popularize it in the world. Therefore, a lot of attention was paid to the ideological moment.
Naturally, the chief propagandist of the twentieth century was responsible for everything Joseph Goebbels. He ordered to think over everything to the smallest detail. His subordinate dealt with the issue of fire Karl Dim. It was he who came up with the whole ceremony with lighting a fire in Olympia and transporting it to the country hosting the Olympics. In this way, he ideologically connected Ancient Greece and its modern descendants and Germany with its Nazi regime.
Olympic torch on the way to Berlin. 1936 Photo: Wikipedia
Later, Dima's reputation was tarnished by the history of the Hitler Youth, Nazi youth detachments. In 1945, he sent about two thousand children to certain death, whom he ordered to defend Berlin even at the cost of their lives. This happened at the same Olympic stadium where Hertha football matches are now taking place and where the Olympians fought in 1936.
Fireplace instead of sun
Despite, to put it mildly, the tarnished reputation of the authors of the idea with the Olympic torch relay, the tradition has taken root. It was used during the first Olympics after the end of World War II, in 1948. The first torchbearer then was a corporal of the Greek army, who, symbolizing the traditional truce for the time of the Olympics, took off his military uniform before lighting the torch.
However, just four years later, the flame of the Winter Olympics, held in Norway, was lit for the first time outside of Olympia, which caused much controversy and great international resonance. The source of the fire was a fireplace in the house-museum of Norwegian skiing pioneer Sondre Norheim in Morgedal. The first Olympic fire of the Winter Games traveled all the way on skis.
Despite criticism, the Olympic flame of the Summer Olympics, held that year in Finland, was decided to be mixed with a flame lit from the rays of the non-setting polar sun within the Arctic Circle.Four years later, in 1956, the Italians, who won the right to host the next Winter Games, thought: “Why are we worse than the Norwegians?” They lit their Olympic flame in their own ancient temple, the temple of Jupiter. However, at the end of the relay, this fire was waiting for failure. The skater, who received the right to light the bowl in the stadium, stumbled and fell with a torch in his hands. Only a happy accident did not allow the fire to go out a few meters before the finish line.
Surprisingly, the flame of the 1960 Winter Olympics, which was held in the United States, was also decided to be lit in Morgedal. The Greeks were offended. What was their surprise when modern times, despite the authority of the International Olympic Committee, the organizers of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, despite the presence of an official fire lit in Athens, lit another, alternative, flame - in the same Morgedal.
Who is into what
Since the middle of the last century, it has become a tradition to introduce some peculiarity into each subsequent Olympic torch relay. Among the organizers, this was considered good form. In fact, it turned out that the host countries were simply trying to stand out from the rest as brightly as possible.
In 1968, the organizers of the Olympics in Mexico not only used a ship as transport, which almost completely repeated the path Christopher Columbus, but also loaded the fire onto a boat and jet-skied it.
In 1972, the fire was carried on a motorcycle. In 1984 - by helicopter, and in 1988 - by snowmobile. During the 1992 Summer Olympics, the fire was on a frigate, and the organizers of the Winter Games flew it on a supersonic aircraft.From 1996 to the present there were: canoe, pony express, steamboat, train, dog team, horse-drawn sleigh, Formula 1 car, Venetian gondola, Chinese dragon boat, traditional English boat, racehorses, bungee, speed boat ...
Heinrich Friedrich Fueger. Prometheus brings fire to the people (1817). Photo: Wikipedia
During the torch relay Sochi-2014, where only the torch has been. He went under water, to the bottom of Lake Baikal, to the top of Elbrus, to the North Pole, traveled into space - to the International Space Station. He was carried on camels, motorcycles, airplanes, trains, dog sleds, sleighs... Our relay race has become the longest, longest and largest in the history of the Olympic Games. And it is unlikely that anyone else will be able to repeat these records - there is simply not enough space. Indeed, after numerous incidents during the 2008 relay race, which was international, it was decided to carry fire only through the territory of Greece and the host country. And Russia is the largest country in the world.
It will be held on Sunday, September 29, in Ancient Olympia, after which the relay race will start, which will end in Sochi on February 7, 2014.
The Olympic flame is one of the symbols of the Olympic Games. It is lit in Olympia (Greece) a few months before the opening of the games. The fire is delivered using torches carried by runners, passing it to each other along the baton.
The tradition of lighting the Olympic flame existed in ancient Greece during the ancient Olympic Games. It served as a reminder of the feat of the titan Prometheus, who, according to legend, stole fire from Zeus and gave it to people.
Prometheus showed compassion for people and stole fire from the workshop of the divine blacksmith Hephaestus, which he secretly carried out in the reeds. Together with fire, he took from Hephaestus the "wise skill" and taught people to build houses, ships, hew stone, melt and forge metal, write, count.
As the myths say, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to chain Prometheus to the Caucasian rock, pierced his chest with a spear, and a huge eagle flew every morning to peck the titan's liver, which grows again every day. Prometheus was saved by Hercules.
In 776 BC, athletes began to compete in the ancient Olympic Games. Especially for their opening, the fire was lit and transported to the finish line. The process of delivering the Olympic flame involved maintaining the purity and strength of the natural elements in a continuous state. This was taken care of by 10 Athenian tribes (clan associations), who allocated 40 trained young men for this process. Young people delivered a torch from the altar of Prometheus straight to the Athenian altar. The distance was 2.5 kilometers.
In recent history, the idea of lighting the Olympic flame from the sun's rays at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia and delivering it by torch relay to the Olympic stadium for the opening ceremony of the Games was expressed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1912. In 1928, an employee of the Amsterdam Electricity Company lit the first Olympic flame in the bowl of the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, and since then this ritual has been an integral attribute of the modern Olympic Games. In 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1994, the Olympic flame of the Winter Games was lit in the Norwegian village of Morgendal in the fireplace of the house where the founder of Norwegian skiing Sondre Nordheim (1825-1897) lived.
Technologically, the lighting of the Olympic flame took place in the same way as now.
The modern ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame is performed in Olympia by eleven women, portraying priestesses. The actress, dressed as a ceremonial priestess in antique robes, lights the torch in the same way as was done at the Games of Antiquity. It uses a parabolic mirror to focus the sun's rays to a single point thanks to its curved shape. The energy from the sun creates a large amount of heat that ignites the fuel in the torch when the priestess brings it to the center of the mirror.
If there is no sun on the day of the Olympic flame-lighting ceremony, the priestess may light the torch from the fire lit on the sunny day before the ceremony.
The fire is carried in a pot to the altar on an antique Olympic Stadium where he lights the torch of the first relay runner.
In addition to the main torch, special lamps are also lit from the Olympic flame, designed to store fire in case the main torch (or even the fire at the Games themselves) goes out for one reason or another.
One of the priestesses at the very first Olympic flame lighting ceremony was Maria Horse, a young Greek dancer who subsequently, from the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 to the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, was the constant choreographer of the Olympic flame ceremony.
The Olympic flame symbolizes purity, the attempt to improve and the struggle for victory, as well as peace and friendship.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
“Look at the torches of past Winter Olympics! Their appearance can be described by the words “kvadratish, praktish, gut”. Our task was to develop a completely outstanding design, with a kind of primordially Russian “sub-twist”. But most importantly, it must be sincere. Not just a dry and functional industrial design, but a soulful one!” - Vladimir Pirozhkov pronounces the last word with an aspiration. Vladimir is the head of the industrial design and innovation center AstraRossa Design, where he developed appearance torches of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
About seven years ago, Vladimir Pirozhkov could not have imagined that he would leave his sunny villa in Nice, return to Russia and engage in winter torch building. A graduate of the Sverdlovsk Institute of Architecture, he almost hitchhiked left the country in the early 1990s and ended up as an apprentice to the founder of biodesign, the legendary Luigi Colani. Then he successfully worked as an interior designer at Citroen, where the interiors of the C3, C3 Pluriel, C4 Coupe, C5 models and the C6 Lignage specially “sharpened” for French President Jacques Chirac came out from under his pen.
Then he worked at the Toyota European Center in Nice, where he rose to the rank of head of the division that deals with “cars of the future”.
And in 2007, German Gref, then Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, visited the Toyota Design Center in Nice with a tour, who invited the designer to return to his homeland. This is how the AstraRossa Design center was born, the debut of which was the visual style project for the SuperJet 100 aircraft.
“The task of designing the design of the torch for the Winter Olympics in Sochi fell on us like snow on our heads,” says Vladimir. – A couple of years ago, the organizing committee of the Olympic Games held a design competition Olympic torch. We applied and, of course, hoped to get into the final, otherwise what's the point of participation? But hope was cautious. Why? Look who designed the torches for at least two past Winter Olympics: Pininfarina (Turin, 2006) and Bombardier (Vancouver, 2010). Against the backdrop of such giants on a planetary scale, our compact Russian company looked simply defiant, but we still submitted an application. And a month later we got a call from the organizing committee.”
Appearance and ergonomics
According to Pirozhkov, there is not a single straight line in the design of the torch, all the lines are ornate, they are neither western nor eastern - they are ours. The body is made of die-cast aluminium. Red polycarbonate inserts, painted bright yellow on the inside, create a sense of inner glow. The color scheme embodies the motto of our Olympics: "Ice and Fire". And the design idea is based on an artifact that the heroes of Russian fairy tales are so eager to get - the feather of the Firebird.
Ergonomics of the torch, says Vladimir Pirozhkov, raised many questions. “Unlike the torches of the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics should be better protected from the vagaries of bad weather. Accordingly, they are more powerful and heavier, and this imposes additional restrictions on ergonomics. For example, the torch of the Vancouver Olympics weighs only 1.8 kg, but it is uncomfortable in the hand - it dangles. And if you take Turin - for 2 kg, but perfectly balanced! We tried to move the center of gravity as close to the torch handle as possible and as a result retained the Canadian weight and Italian ergonomics.”
Let's digress a little from the topic and recall the torches of past Olympiads:
The modern Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony is performed by eleven women, portraying priestesses, during which one of them lights the fire with the help of a parabolic mirror that focuses the rays of the Sun. Then this one, however, other methods of transportation were used at different times. In addition to the main torch, special lamps are also lit from the Olympic flame, designed to store fire in case the main torch (or even the fire at the games themselves) goes out for one reason or another. At least one case is known when the fire went out during the games (Montreal, 1976, during a rainstorm).
The tradition of lighting the Olympic flame existed in ancient Greece during the ancient Olympic Games. The Olympic fire served as a reminder of the feat of the titan Prometheus, who, according to legend, stole fire from Zeus and gave it to people.
The tradition was revived in 1928 and continues to this day. During the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, the Olympic torch relay was held for the first time (based on the idea of Joseph Goebbels). More than 3000 runners participated in the delivery of the torch from Olympia to Berlin. At the Winter Olympics, the fire was lit in both 1936 and 1948, but the relay race was first held in 1952 before the Winter Olympics in Oslo, and did not originate in Olympia, but in Morgendal.
So, olympic torches Let's take a closer look at some of them.
Torch of the 1972 Olympics in Munich (Germany)
The main feature of the design of the Games was the famous pictograms of athletes, designed by Otl Aicher. The gas torch was made of stainless steel and has been tested for endurance in various weather conditions, except for extreme heat. When the temperature reached 46 degrees Celsius on the way from Greece to Germany, a special sealed torch had to be used.
Torch of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow (USSR)
The fate of the Olympic torch in the USSR was dealt with by a department specially created in 1976 of the Office of the Olympic Torch Relay of the 1980 Games. A group of specialists had to decide what the shape of the torch and its internal structure would be. It was originally planned to entrust its production to the Japanese, but the Soviet officials did not like the torch they proposed in the form of a reed. As a result, the development was entrusted to the Leningrad Machine-Building Plant. Klimov, and the specialists of the enterprise were given only a month for this. A group of engineers led by Boris Tuchin met the deadline, thus setting a kind of record. In total, for the Olympics, the plant produced 6200 torches with a gold-colored top and handle. Cylinders with liquefied gas were placed inside the torches, as well as special cords soaked in olive oil, which gave the flame a pink tint.
Torch of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona (Spain)
The choice of the capital of the 1992 Summer Olympics was to be made in 1986 at the 91st session of the IOC. Among the contenders was Barcelona, whose delegation used an interesting move during the presentation. On the map of Europe, burning torches marked the capitals of past Olympics, but the Iberian Peninsula was drowning in darkness. The idea of the Spaniards was appreciated, and Barcelona received the right to host the games. It only remained to create a torch that would not be similar to the previous ones. Such a responsible task was entrusted to industrial designer Andre Ricard. His goal, as he himself put it, was to give the torch a "Latin character". As a result, Ricard created one of the most original torches in the history of the Olympics. In shape, it resembled a long nail, the “hat” of which happened to be a bowl for fire. The unusual torch was appreciated by the residents of 652 settlements, where the Olympic torch relay was held.
Torch of the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer (Norway)
For the first time, the Winter and Summer Olympic Games are being held alternately every two years. This slim torch has been tested for wind resistance. The fact is that he was brought to the Lillehammer stadium by a ski jumper, holding a torch in flight at arm's length. And again, as before the Olympics in Oslo, the fire was lit not in Greece, but in the Norwegian Mordegal. This time, the torch relay stretched for 12,000 kilometers. But unexpectedly, the Greeks protested, urging the organizers of the Norwegian Games to return to tradition. As a result, the fire from Greece was still delivered to the opening of the Games, and it was from him that the torch was lit, which was entrusted to the ski jumper.
Torch of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta (USA)
The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta was held in the year of the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games. And so the developers of the design of the Olympic torch decided to give back to ancient tradition. A team of specialists from Georgia Tech University worked on the internal device, and designer Malcolm Greer was responsible for the external appearance. It was he who came up with the idea to make a torch in the form of a bunch of reeds. The number of aluminum stems was supposed to symbolize 26 Summer Olympics that have passed since 1896. But several pipes melted, and in the final version there were 22 stems. Also, the shape of the torch referred to the straight lines of classical Greek architecture. The Torch of the Games in Atlanta was the longest in the history of all the Olympics and the only one with a capture in the middle. The right to light the Olympic flame with them at the opening ceremony of the Games was awarded to the legendary Mohammed Ali.
Torch of the 1998 Olympics in Nagano (Japan)
The torch is made in the likeness of traditional Japanese Taimatsu torches, but with some modern touches. It was made entirely of aluminum and burned with propane, and was considered the most environmentally friendly of all made up to that time. The hexagonal shape of the top of the torch symbolizes the snowflake, and the silver color symbolizes winter. The honor of bringing the Olympic flame to the Nagano stadium fell to Briton Chris Moon, who lost an arm and a leg in Mozambique, where he cleared anti-personnel mines. To a flurry of applause, Moon ran through the stadium, despite the fact that instead of one of his legs he had a prosthesis.
Olympic torch 2000 in Sydney (Australia)
When Sydney, Australia won the right to host the Olympics at the 101st session of the IOC, many thought about how long the Olympic torch relay would be. As a result, its length was 17,000 km. The torch with the Olympic flame was delivered on foot, by train, by bicycle, by kayak, by ferry, by plane, on horseback and even under water. The last leg of the journey, scuba divers swam with a torch through the crevices of the Great Barrier Reef. Four years before the start of the games Olympic Committee Australia arranged a tender among four dozen local design bureaus and eventually chose Blue Sky Design. The design team was inspired by the Sydney Opera House, the Pacific Ocean and a hunting boomerang. As a result, the torch of the Sydney Olympics turned out to be multi-layered, with each of the layers personifying a separate element: earth, water and fire.
Torch of the 2002 Olympics Salt Lake City (USA)
The design of the icicle torch, made of silver and copper with a glass tip, is meant to illustrate the motto of the Salt Lake City Olympics: "Light the fire within you." The tongue of flame, as it were, breaks through the ice. Along with the athletes, relatives of those who died as a result of the tragic events of September 11 in New York participated in the relay.
Torch of the 2004 Olympics in Athens (Greece)
The torch of the Athens Olympics was presented to the public a year before the start of the games. Its creator was the industrial designer Andreas Varotsos, who had previously been involved in the development of office furniture. The main materials from which the torch was made were olive wood and metal. The first was supposed to symbolize ancient history Greece, and the second - modernity. The Athenian torch, whose shape resembled a twisted olive leaf, turned out to be very concise and even modest, but this did not bother the representatives of the Greek Olympic Committee. Worse, it turned out that the torch turned out to be technically imperfect: it was repeatedly blown out by the wind during the Olympic torch relay, and to top it all off, the flame went out right in the temple of Hera at the moment of the solemn transfer of the Olympic flame to the president of the organizing committee of the Athens Games, John Angelopoulou-Daskalaki.
Torch of the 2006 Olympics in Turin (Italy)
The famous Italian design firm Pininfarina, which works with automotive giants such as Ferrari, Maserati, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar, decided to try its hand at creating Olympic symbols. The shape of the torch resembles a ski, and the tongues of flame breaking through the holes create the illusion of a fireball. However, despite its sleek design, this torch has been criticized by representatives of various Olympic committees for being too heavy. Many athletes did not feel too comfortable carrying an almost two-kilogram torch.
Torch of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing (China)
For almost a year, a team of designers and technicians has been working on the creation of the Beijing 2008 Olympic torch. Such a responsible task was entrusted to the Lenovo IT company, a well-known computer manufacturer. The torch of the Beijing Games was made in the form of a scroll, because paper is considered one of the great inventions of China. The main colors of the torch were red, symbolizing the triumph of victory, and silver. And arrange it upper part was solved with a pattern of clouds, which is often found in painting and interior elements in China. The torch of the 2008 Olympics has become one of the most technologically advanced and environmentally friendly in history and has even been called the Cloud of Hope. It was made from an alloy of aluminum and magnesium, and propane was used as fuel, which does not pollute the atmosphere during combustion and does not harm the lungs of athletes.
Torch of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver (Canada)
The design of this torch was invented by the artists of the manufacturing company Vehicle Bombardier and Hudson's Bay Company. Its length is 94.5 cm, and its weight is 1.6 kg. The shape of the torch is reminiscent of ski tracks in the snow, as well as the Canadian landscape. The side burn holes are carved in the shape of a maple leaf. On a snow-white torch the emblem of the Olympic Games in Vancouver - Inukshuk is depicted. Inukshuk is a heap of stones in the shape of a man with arms outstretched to the sides. The indigenous inhabitants of the region, the Inuit, installed them as road signs.
Dozens of engineers and designers have been developing and testing a far from simple torch device for two years. I had to create a special fuel (a mixture of propane and isobutane), which would burn at low temperatures. The special design of the air sampling holes forms a flame in the form of a developing flag.
Torch of the 2012 London Olympics (UK)
Exactly 100 days before the start of the London Olympics, the torch of the upcoming Games was presented to the public. Its development was entrusted to the residents of the British capital - designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby. Before starting work, each of them received an 80-page description of the requirements with images of all pre-existing Olympic torch models. For games in London, designers came up with a triangular torch made of aluminum alloy. The choice of material managed to simultaneously ensure its lightness and strength, and the three facets symbolized not only words Olympic motto"Faster, higher, stronger", but also the third Olympics in London. In addition, the perforation applied to the torch turned out to be original: 8000 round holes symbolize the number of torchbearers who took part in the Olympic torch relay.
Now back to our 2014 torch.
inner fire
The "Feather of the Firebird" is only the outer shell. The fuel filling was developed by specialists from a large Russian defense enterprise - the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant, Krasmash. The combustion system consists of three main parts: a gas cylinder, a tap and an evaporator burner.
Rocket engineers could use pure industrial propane, which burns well and has a fairly low boiling point of -42°C, which is important in the Russian winter. However, pure propane has an octane rating of 100 units, is explosive and cannot be used for safety reasons. Therefore, a mixture of propane and butane in a safe ratio of 80:20 was chosen. With this liquefied mixture, a cylinder specially designed to fit the shape of the body, the pressure in which is 12 atm, is filled to half its volume.
60 g of gas is enough for about 8-10 minutes of burning. Again, for safety reasons, gas is taken from the liquid fraction (the intake tube is lowered to the bottom of the cylinder). It would seem that it is more convenient to work with the gaseous fraction - the system maintains an almost constant pressure, and the flame is very stable.
But if such a torch is sharply tilted or turned over, the liquid intake will “overwhelm” and, as a result, the combustion system will be interrupted. Nevertheless, the torch of the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980 was made just like that! The fact is that then the torchbearers were professional athletes who were ordered
keep the torch strictly upright, and they strictly observed this rule. By the way, out of more than 6,000 Moscow torches, only 36 went out, which, compared to other Olympiads, is an excellent indicator.
clear flame
When the needle valve is opened, the gas through the pipeline through the first jet (calibrated hole for supplying a strictly defined amount of fuel) enters the evaporator tube, spirally wound on the burner body, where, heating up, it passes into a gaseous state. And then, through another jet, the gas bursts out in a clear flame.
But not too clear: the mixture must be re-enriched with combustible gas. In this case, carbon particles (simply speaking, soot) are formed in the flame, which glow with yellow light, making the fire powerful and clearly visible. However, it is important to strike a balance: such a flame is less stable than a completely burning mixture. The burner itself may work beautifully, but the torch body severely restricts airflow.
If you make holes in the lower part of the body, the torch will resemble a blowtorch, fuel consumption will increase dramatically, and the flame itself will be barely noticeable - transparent blue. Let's make holes on the sides of the hull - we will also get an almost invisible flame, the combustion temperature of which is very high with a strong side wind, which leads to the risk of melting the hull elements. To avoid this, the Krasmash engineers placed the burner at the bottom of a special refractory glass, and wound a nichrome thread around its perimeter.
When the torch burns, the thread acts as a spiral for incandescent ignition - it becomes red-hot and ignites the gas-air mixture if the flame is “torn off” by a strong gust of wind.
It would seem that everything is provided, checked, tested. But the devil, as you know, is in the details.
Debriefing
October 6, 2013 the weather was not bad. The sun often winked from behind the clouds, a weak breeze was blowing, only 1 m/s. And yet the torch went out. Right under the walls of the Kremlin, at the 20th second of the race, in the hands of the 17-time world champion in diving Shavarsh Karapetyan. This case received a special resonance also because an employee of the FSO who happened to be nearby “lighted up” the extinguished torch - and not with the Olympic flame from a special icon lamp, but with an ordinary lighter.
(By the way, this was not the first such case in history: in 1976 in Montreal, a powerful gust of wind with rain extinguished not even the torch, but the Olympic flame in the stadium bowl, and a technician who happened to be nearby, without thinking twice, set it on fire with an ordinary lighter. Later, of course, , to observe the tradition, the fire was extinguished and re-lit from the "original", as in Moscow). And this was only the beginning: over the next two days, the “Firebird feather” had to be “lit up” four times from a special lamp with the Olympic flame.
The reason was found pretty quickly. For the correct combustion process, it is necessary to completely open the gas supply channel. Otherwise, a non-free channel may affect the stability of the flame. But the valve needle has a small play in the clip that compresses it and can freely rotate around the longitudinal axis. This was done on purpose so as not to deform the edges of the locked channel.
On the other hand, it is necessary that the valve opens when turning a quarter of a turn, and further turn is limited by a stop. This is done to ensure the ergonomics of the torch. Turning the faucet more than 90 degrees is simply inconvenient: you need to twist the brush unnaturally or ask someone for help. As a result, it turned out that when the tap handle is turned a quarter of a turn, the deviation of the needle from the channel does not open it enough. It is clear that at some point the needle may again block the channel! The issue was resolved by fully opening the faucet. As a result, the number of extinguished torches immediately decreased noticeably.
How could the specialists of Krasmash, a powerful enterprise with an impeccable product, make a miscalculation? According to Vladimir Pirozhkov, this is a common part of the routine design work: “According to the conditions of the International Olympic Committee, the torch should burn only once and only with the Olympic flame. That is ... each torch goes to the relay without testing, straight from the assembly line.
But for any machine-building plant (and Krasmash is no exception) to start mass production from scratch without multi-level qualification tests of finished products is nonsense. Any production in any country has a certain experimental percentage of non-standard, it is precisely eliminated during the testing process. According to the results of which, by the way, adjustments are made to the production process in order to reduce this percentage. And the production of torches is completely out of this scheme.
Of course, there was a batch of products designed specifically for testing. This random sample from the series behaved in an ideal way. What they didn’t do with torches: they blew them in a wind tunnel, poured water on them, froze them at -40 ° C, dropped them into a snowdrift - and whatever! Here are such successful specimens. It was forbidden for Krasmash to test the remaining 16,000 products.
Learn from mistakes
The torch of the Olympic flame is the main symbol of any Olympics. Attitude towards him is always emphasized focused. But extinguished torches were at all the Olympic Games, these cases simply did not receive wide publicity. The 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi are covered very widely and brightly, and therefore there may be an impression of serious technical problems. In fact, there is no tragedy in the extinguished torches. “Canadians had a huge problem with the Vancouver Olympic torch,” explains Vladimir Pirozhkov. - It was developed, let me remind you, by the Canadian industrial giant Bombardier.
Of the 7,000 copies produced, 146 went out. And with a strong wind, the flame temperature of the Vancouver torch increased to such an extent that the plastic structural elements began to melt, and later, right in the course of the relay, the developers screwed special refractory shields to the torch. (The first torch began to melt almost right in the hands of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who started the Olympic torch relay. - "PM".) And this, generally speaking, is a normal practice. Over the years of its existence, the International Olympic Committee has developed a condition to consider the situation when the number of extinguished torches does not exceed 5% of their total number as the norm.
The Olympic torch relay is always accompanied by a special team, which carries a light in several lamps, authentic to that which is lit on the Greek Mount Olympus. Extinct torches are lit from it. Our relay race is the longest in history - over 65,000 km. It involved a record number of torches. IN extreme conditions(North Pole, Arctic) the torch behaves very reliably. 16,000 pieces were made by Krasmash, of which the number of extinct ones is unlikely to exceed 2%. Given our harsh climatic conditions, this is a very good result.
Mystical fate dominates the Olympic torch builders of all times and peoples, no matter how venerable they may be. It is difficult to doubt the competence of the specialists of Bombardier, the manufacturer of aircraft and railway transport, or the formidable Krasmash. Dozens of Turin torches were also extinguished, although their developer and manufacturer, the world famous company Pininfarina, can design objects more complicated - car bodies for Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar. A rational explanation nevertheless exists.
“There are no companies in nature that systematically develop Olympic torches,” states Vladimir Pirozhkov, “and we are very proud of our cooperation with the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee and the legendary Krasmash factory! – Accordingly, there is no accumulated and recorded experience. Every country has to start from scratch. And it seems that every time engineering thought works in approximately the same way: “Yes, no question! Just think, make a big lighter!”.
And although the technology of the gas burner has indeed been worked out to the smallest detail, as soon as they try to dress it in a shirt of the original case, the fun begins. The story about the issues that our specialists faced in the development of the torch, I am sure, will be useful for future Olympic torch builders.”
