Fire has been an important element of the Olympic Games ever since they started. According to the legend in fact, it was the Titan Prometheus (he who reflects first) who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man.

During the Olympic Games, fires were lit in numerous temples. And a fire was kept burning permanently on the altar of the temple to Estia (fire goddess) and Zeus and his wife Hera. The Olympic torch, however, is a relatively recent introduction, dated 1928 when a Dutch architect, Jan Wils, decided to a include a fire in the design of an Olympic stadium for the 9th Olympics in Amsterdam. While the idea of the relay taking the torch round the world via the cities where the Games are held, was introduced in 1936, the year the Games were held in Berlin. Today, the Olympic torch is lit in Olympia in Greece on the site of Hera’s temple some months before the start of the Games and is immediately used to light a torch in honour of Pierre de Coubertin, restorer of the Games in our modern era. The torch is then carried by runners to the city that hosts the Games. This year it’s the turn of Beijing.
The relay ends on the day of the opening ceremony when the last torch bearer (carrier of the “teda” or ceremonial torch) lights the flame in the hearth of the Olympic stadium. The last torch bearer is usually a famous sports person from the country hosting the games. Past bearers include Paavo Nurmi, Jesse Owen’s granddaughter and Michel Platini. On most of the journey (torch relay) the Olympic torch is carried on foot but over the years other means have been used; in 1952, for example, it was taken to Helsinki by aeroplane and in 1956 on horseback to Melbourne in Australia for the 40th Games, when the equestrian events were held separately due to a quarantine ban; that year the torch left from Rome. This year the torch was lit on 24th March by the Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou dressed as a priestess (11 priestesses take part in the ceremony) using sunlight reflected by a concave mirror. A journey of around 137,000 km now awaits the torch, set to arrive in Beijing on 8th August and be extinguished on 24th of the same month.