What’s in the news?

• The Olympic torch arrived in France’s Marseilles recently, marking an important ceremonial moment in the run-up to the summer Games in Paris. The torch will be relayed across France, and will reach Paris on July 26 , the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2024.

History of the Olympics

• The Olympic Games are said to be around 3,000 years old, beginning as sports contests in Olympia that were held every four years.
• Despite the competitive spirit of the Games, they also signified the possibility of peace.The tradition of Olympic Truce or Ekecheiria was established through a 9th century BC treaty.
• Kings Iphitos of Elis, Cleosthenes of Pisa, and Lycurgus of Sparta signed a treaty allowing safe passage for athletes for their participation in the ancient Olympic Games. This was significant at a time when states were constantly warring with each other.
• In 393 AD, the Christian emperor Theodosius I forbade the Games.
• The Olympics was revived In 1894.
• The first modern-era Games were held in Athens in 1896. The idea of a torch relay came later.

History of the Olympic Flame

• A symbolic flame was used in the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.
• But the tradition became solidified with a proposal from the Organising Committee of the Berlin Games. Inspired by torch races that were held in ancient Greek times it was suggested that for the 1936 Summer Games a Flame be lit in Olympia and transported to Berlin for what would be the first Olympic torch relay. 
• More than 3,000 athletes from seven countries participated in the relay.

Mythology behind the Olympic Flame

• In Greek mythology, fire was seen as a key element, and a fire was perpetually maintained in various Greek temples. 
• In Olympia, the flame was lit using the rays of the sun, to ensure its purity, and a skaphia(the ancestor of the parabolic mirror). Parabolic mirrors are used today for lighting the Olympic flame. 
• A flame burned permanently on the altar of the goddess Hestia, and such fires were also lit on the altars of Zeus and Hera, in front of whose temple the Olympic flame is lit today. 
• This mirror method continues to be used today.

Changing tradition

• The torch is taken across cities and countries, carried by thousands of people for each edition of the Olympics. 
• It travels on foot and on aeroplanes and ships. Nowadays, common people can choose to participate by reaching out to the organising committee.
• The identity of the last person to carry the flame to the opening ceremony is kept secret. They are usually figures from the world of sports or young leaders, who light the big cauldron-like structure kept in the stadium. 
• The flame is only extinguished at the Games’ closing ceremony.
• For many years, torch-bearers were young, male athletes. It was only at the Munich Games in 1972 that women and people with disabilities were included among the torch-bearers.

Source

• https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/how-olympics-got-torch-relay-9319158/