"When travelling by plane, the flame is kept inside two small portable lamps. Upon arrival the lamps are kept apart, one following the torch in a van in case it goes out and one kept at a separate location as backup," Kosmidis said.

Security guards running with the torchbearers turn off the torch at the end of the daily relays, before the torch is lit again from the lamps for the relay the next day.

Perfect flame
The torch, introduced for the first time at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, is still an engineering work in progress as technicians seek the perfect flame.
There was no relay in the ancient Games in Olympia, although there were several burning flames at those Games as well as flame races at the Panathenian Games to honour deities including Zeus and Prometheus, who, legend has it, stole fire from the gods and brought wisdom and knowledge to humankind.
The torch relay was introduced in 1936 and the first torch, constructed by the Krupp steel and munitions company, crucial to Adolf Hitler's war preparations, used solid fuel skewered on a needle inside the torch to burn the flame after it was lit from the sun's rays via a parabolic mirror in ancient Olympia.

The torch's general features have stayed more or less the same since then. It must be light enough to carry and must have a stable and visible burning system that will not singe the runner's hair or hands and will allow for media coverage.

That has not always been the case though.

The torch conceived for the 1968 Mexico City Games may arguably have been the most stylish one, but sparks flew during runs and the torch itself became too hot to handle, forcing organizers to quickly replace it with a modified version.

The Barcelona 1992 Games torch was also problematic, its plastic parts melting in the hands of several runners.

Torches in recent Games, including Beijing, have switched to using gas cartridges that allow greater control of the flame's size and colour and are safer for runners.

SOURCE- REUTERS
By Karolos Grohmann

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