the history of the olyimpic tourch

The Olympic Torch
When the Olympic torch lights the flame to mark the start of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in September this year, the entire nation will celebrate as the Olympics return to Australia for the second time.
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Certainly nobody will feel the euphoria more than the design team at Blue Sky who created the torch. The winning design was unveiled to the world’s press on March 8 1999, but the hard work began almost 18 months earlier when senior designer Robert Jurgens and creative director Mark Armstrong began the process of responding to the SOCOG (Sydney 2000 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) invitation to tender. 40 firms were invited to participate in the tender to design and manufacture the Olympic torch and community cauldrons.

The oylimpic motto

The Olympic Motto
The Olympic motto is "Citius, Altius, Fortius." These three Latin words mean "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." Baron de Coubertin borrowed the motto from Father Henri Martin Dideon, the headmaster of Arcueil College in Paris. Father Dideon used the motto to describe the great achievements of the athletes at his school. Coubertin felt it could be used to describe the goals of great athletes all over the World.

The symbolism the oylimpic rinngs

According to the Olympic Charter, the five-ringed symbol "represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games." Baron Pierre de Coubertin conceived of both the symbol and the flag. Not coincidentally, Coubertin is the founder of the modern Olympic Movement. The Olympic Committee adopted the flag in 1914, and it was first flown at the 1920 Antwerp Games.
While the charter isn't explicit, many believe that the colors of the flag-- blue, black, red, yellow, and green on a white field -- are used because at least one of these colors exists in each of the flags of the nations participating in the Olympics. This may be true; however, the notion that each ring represents a specific continent is not. The five interlocking rings represent the five continents brought together by the Olympic Movement.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games adds an additional layer of symbolism to the flag. Traditionally, eight people carry in the flag. Five of these flagbearers represent the continents, while the other three stand for the Olympic ideals of sport, environment, and culture.

Modern olympics

The ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.


The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin

THE OLYMPIC FLAME The idea of the Olympic torch or Olympic Flame was first inaugurated in the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. There was no torch relay in the ancient Olympic Games. There were known, however, torch relays in other ancient Greek athletic festivals including those held at Athens. The modern Olympic torch relay was first instituted at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

Olympic Games

History:

The Olympic games first started in Greece, they were held in two year intervals and later the greek method of counting the year even refferred to these games, using the termOlympaid for the period between two games.

Events:

In order to be in the games one had to qualify and the athlete had to have one's name written down in the lists.