The Olympic Torch Relay

What is a relay race?What do you do in a relay race?

How many people make up a relay race? What is different about a relay race and an ordinary

running race? What distance do relay runners run?

What is happening here?

The Olympic flame in ancient timesThe flame of the modern dayOlympic games is lit before eachgame at the site of an ancientTemple stadium complex inOlympia which is in the country

of Greece.

Facts about the London 2012 Torch RelayThere will be 8000 torch bearers doing the relay!The oldest is 84 and the youngest is 8!Many participants are in wheelchairs or aredisabled in some other way.The relay will take 70 days, from the 19 May tothe 27 July 2012. The distance of the relay is approximately 8000miles

London 2012

Olympic baton.

Facts about the 2012 Olympic baton

The design of the London 2012 Torch was inspired by a series of ‘threes’ that are found in the history of the Olympic Games and the vision of the Olympic Movement:

1. the 3 Olympic Values of respect, excellence and friendship;

2. the 3 words that make the Olympic motto – faster, higher, stronger; 3. the fact that the UK has hosted the Olympic Games in 1908, 1948 and will host them for the third time in 2012.

2008 Olympic TorchBeijing

2004 Olympic torchAthens, Greece

2000 Olympic

TorchSydney

Australia

1996 Olympic Torch

Atlanta USA

The Olympic FlameThe tradition of lighting anOlympic Flame comes from

theAncient Greeks.During the ancient OlympicGames, a sacred flamewas lit from the sun’s raysat Olympia,

The flame stayed lit until the

games were completed.

The torch waslit at Olympia in Greece and then carried by relayto the host-city of thegames.

The last runner carriesthe torch into theOlympic Stadium duringthe Opening Ceremony.The flame is then litfrom the torch and willremain lit until it isput out during theClosing Ceremony

We will all make a torch that will look like this…