The Olympic Flame

The OLYMPIC FLAME
The origin of the Olympic Flame dates back to ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks considered fire divine and lit a flame at Olympia where the ancient Olympic Games took place. The flame used to burn throughout the celebrations.

The tradition continues in modern times. A new flame is lit using a parabolic mirror to focus the rays of the Sun at the ancient Olympic Stadium in Olympia, Elis, Greece. The Flame is then transported to the host city where the last runner lights the large Olympic Cauldron. It burns throughout the Games. The Flame is extinguished during the closing ceremony. The Olympic Flame was first lit during the opening ceremony of the IX Olympic Games at Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1928.

The first Olympic Torch Relay occurred at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.

2016 Summer Olympics

After completing its Greek phase, which is from Olympia to Athens, the torch relay will head to Brazil where the process would kick-start on May 3, 2016. But before reaching Brazil, the torch relay would also visit Switzerland and Colombia. The Brazilian phase will start from the capital city Brasilia and would finally culminate in Rio de Janeiro. In Brazil, the torch relay would visit more than 300 cities, including all the state capitals and the Federal District.

WBPB

Venue	Year	Lighting of the Olympic Cauldron by
Berlin	1936	Fritz Schilgen [Athletics]
London	1948	John Mark [Athletics]
Helsinki	1952	Hannes Kolehmainen [Athletics]
Melbourne	1956	Ron Clarke [Athletics]
Rome	1960	Giancarlo Peris [Athletics]
Tokyo	1964	Yoshinori Sakai, student born on 6 Aug 1945, the day Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
Mexico City	1968	Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo [Athletics]
Munich	1972	Gunter Zahn [Athletics]
Montreal	1976	Sandra Henderson & Stephane Prefontaine, two young athletes aged 15 and 16 years.
Moscow	1980	Sergei Belov [Basketball]
Los Angeles	1984	Rafer Johnson [Decathlon]
Seoul	1988	Chong Son-Man, Kim Won-Tak, Sohn Mi-Chong [Athletics]
Barcelona	1992	Antonio Rebello [Paralympic Archery]
Atlanta	1996	Mohammad Ali [Boxing]
Sydney	2000	Cathy Freeman [Athletics]
Athens	2004	Nikolaos Kaklamanakis [Sailing]
Beijing	2008	Li Ning [Artistic Gymnastics]
London	2012	Callum Airlie (sailing), Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry (sprinter), Katie Kirk (athlete), Cameron MacRitchie (rowing), Aidan Reynolds (Javelin) and Adelle Tracey (athlete)

Last Updated : May 2, 2016

Rio Olympic Updates 2016

USA earns third straight gold in basketball

Team USA defeated team Serbia to win its third straight basketball gold medal in Men’s Basketball tournament. The winning team’s coach Mike Krzyzewski was utmost delighted with his team’s victory on the final day of Rio 2016 Olympic Games. USA won by a 19-15 lead and this is their 25^th straight victory at the Olympic Games in addition to the 15^th straight victory in the basketball tournament.

Mo Farah wins 5000 m gold; Caster Semenya wins gold in women's 800m

Mo Farah of Great Britain has bagged the gold by winning the 5000 meters final and completed the double double. According to media reports, with this victory Farah has become the second man in the history of Olympics to be able to successfully defend his 5000 and 10000 Olympic championships. His victory is being hailed on Twitter with some calling him the greatest long distance runner of all time. Meanwhile, the silver medal has gone to Paul Kipkemoi Chelimo and Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia has bagged the bronze.

In the women's event, Caster Semenya of South Africa won the Olympic gold in the 800m. She won in one minute 55.28 seconds. Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi won the silver medal and Kenya's Margaret Nyairera Wambui bagged the bronze.

Chen Long Earns Gold in Men's Badminton in Olympics 2016

Chen Long of China has taken gold medal in the Rio Olympics 2016 after defeating Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who has won a silver in men’s badminton today. Lee was facing pressure not to lose the match. He beat Lin Dan of China in the semi-final. Lee and Lin, both are considered to be the best players of their time. With Lee’s defeat, Malaysia has missed out the chance of getting an Olympic gold medal.

Italy Reaches Rio 2016 Men's Volleyball Final

Italy came up with a win and is heading to men's volleyball final against Brazil, after defeating USA. The US men's volleyball team tried all their survival skills, but could not stand in front of Italy. The winning team's thriller was 30-28, 26-28, 9-25, 25-22, 15-9. After it was over, US coach John Speraw said that the team was not skilled enough and they did not execute on some of the opportunities, which Italy flawlessly did

French boxer Mossely wins gold on her birthday

French boxer Estelle Mossely celebrated her 24^th birthday by winning a gold medal in Women’s lightweight boxing championship. She defeated China’s Yin Junhua after the end of four rounds that had the two defending champions leveled on the scorecards of three judges. The bronze medals were earned by Mira Potkonen of Finland and Anastasia Beliakova of Russia.