The (German) Origins of the Olympic Torch Relay

In advance of the Summer Olympics in London this summer, the Olympic flame is now being flown from Athens to the UK. The flame was lit using a mirror and the rays of the sun on May 10 in ancient Olympia in Greece, the site of the original games that were first held in 776 BCE. The flame briefly went out and had to be relit before being handed to the first torchbearer, Liverpool-born Greek world champion 10km swimmer Spyros Gianniotis, who then passed it onto 19-year-old Alexis Loukas, the first British torchbearer. For a week, the flame traveled 1,800 miles through Greece before being placed on a plane to the UK, where it will be borne for 8,000 miles before being brought to London.


                                        The (German) Origins of the Olympic Torch Relay