Never has the world been so excited about starting a fire! A few hours from now, from the ancient ruins of Olympia in Greece, a Greek actress portraying a head priestess, will light the flame symbolic of the Olympic games’ spirit. From the rays of the sun, a concave mirror will harness the heat that will ignite the flame that will be carried by around the world. From Olympia, the flame will be carried 950 miles through Greece by 645 runners. It will then be handed over to Chinese authorities at the refurbished ancient stadium in Athens where the first modern games were held in 1896. A relay of runners will then carry the Olympic torch for 85,000 miles over 130 days (the torch's longest journey ever) until it ends in Beijing in 888 (August 8, 2008) to light the Olympic flame, signaling the start of the games.

The Olympic torch relay, as the opening of the Olympic celebration, was only revived in the Berlin Olympiad in 1936, and since then the torch relay has preceded every Olympic summer games.
Starting from Olympia and carried by the first runner the flame traveled for the first time hand to hand until it reached the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Since then, the flame's magic has marked and has been identified with the beginning of the Games. In Olympiads that followed, the torch relay continued to play an important role, having been enriched with the characteristics and cultures of the host countries. The choice of the athlete who lights the flame in the Olympic stadium is always symbolic to the host country, and thus eagerly anticipated.

For this year’s Olympiad, the Beijing Olympic torch boasts strong Chinese characteristics, and showcases Chinese design and technical capabilities. It also tries to embody the concepts of a Green (?) Olympics, never mind that environmentalists have continually questioned the hosts country’s poor environmental record. Design wise, the torch of the Beijing Olympic Games has a very strong Chinese flavor, with the shape of the paper scroll and the lucky clouds graphic expressing the idea of harmony.

Hundreds of athletes and lucky non-athletes (including a Pinoy expat in China) have been handpicked for the relay that will travel the world. But the big question in everyone’s mind right now is who will be given the historic task and honor to light the Olympic flame on opening day, and how will it be lighted. Given the Chinese’s penchant for drama and pageantry, this event will surely be worth watching. (The best in my books so far was the lighting in the Barcelona Olympics many years back, with the cauldron lit by a flaming arrow shot by a handicapped athlete.)

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Beijing 2008: the Olympic torch relay begins

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