The beginning of the Modern Olympic Torch Relay

The beginning of the Modern Olympic Torch Relay

During the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928, a fire was lit in the tower of the stadium, but no torch relay was undertaken. The Berlin 1936 Summer Olympic Games witnessed the first torch relay in the modern Olympic Games. History professor, Carl Diem, Secretary-General of the Organizing Committee of the Games of the XI Olympiad in Berlin, proposed the inclusion of a torch relay in the program of the Olympics. The flame was kindled in Olympia, relayed first in Greece and then transported to Berlin via a torch relay. The lighting of the flame for the cauldron in the Olympic stadium became a highlight of the opening ceremony of the 1936 Olympic Games.

The selection of Olympia as the site for the lighting ceremony of the torch relay symbolizes the close link between the great traditions of the ancient and modern Olympic Games and the purity of the Olympic flame.