Passage Nine Olympic Torches Every two years, people around the world wait in anticipation as a torch-beating runner enters the Olympic arena and lights the cauldron. The symbolic lighting of the Olympic flame marks the beginning of another historic Olympic Games. The opening ceremony is the end of a long journey for the Olympic torch. By the time it arrives in the stadium, it has traveled thousands of miles. It may have crossed oceans and deserts and traversed mountains. It may have been carried on planes, trains, bicycles, boats, and even dog sleds. And it will have passed through the hands of thousands of different people around the globe. History of the Torch Fire has always held great power for humans. It cooks our food, keeps us warm, and lights our way through the dark. The ancient Greeks revered the power and fire. In Greek mythology, the god Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humans. To celebrate the passing of fire from Prometheus to man, the Greeks would hold relay races. Athletes would pass a lit torch to one another until the winner reached the finish line. The Greeks held their first Olympic Games in 776 B.C. The Games, held every four years at Olympia, honored Zeus and other Greek gods. The Olympics also marked the beginning of a period of peace for the often warring Greeks. At the start of the Games, runners called "heralds of peace" would travel throughout Greece, declaring a "sacred truce" to all wars between rival city-states. The truce would remain in place for the duration of the games, so that spectators could safely travel to the Olympics. A constantly burning flame was a regular fixture throughout Greece. It usually graced the altars of the Greek gods. In Olympia, there was an altar dedicated to Hera, goddess of birth and marriage. At the start of the Olympic Games, the Greeks would ignite a cauldron of flames upon Hera’s altar. They lit the flame using a hollow disc or mirror called a skaphia, which, much like the modem parabolic mirror, focused the sun’s rays into a single point to light the flame. The flame would burn throughout the Games as a sign of purity, reason, and peace. The Greeks stopped holding their Olympic Games after about a thousand years, and the torch relays and lighting of the flame also stopped. The Olympic Games did not reemerge until 1896, when the first modem Games were held in Athens. The torch relay took a bit longer to reemerge. Designing an Olympic Torch The torch begins its journey long before the Olympic Games commence. It starts out as an idea in the mind of a designer or group of designers. Several design teams submit proposals to the Olympic Committee for the opportunity to create and build the torch. The team that wins the assignment will design a torch that is both aesthetically pleasing and functional. A technical or engineering team handles the functional aspect, making sure that the torch can not only stay lit across the distance, but also make it through sometimes grueling conditions. The first torch used in the modem Olympics (the 1936 Berlin Games) was made of a thin steel rod topped with a circular piece from which the flame rose. It was inscribed with a dedication to the runners. The look of the modem Olympic torch originated with John Hench, a Disney artist who designed the torch for the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. His design provided the basis for all future torches. Since then, designers have tried to create a torch that represents the host country and the theme for that Olympic Games. A torch can take a year or two to design and build. And once the torch has been built, it must be tested rigorously in all kinds of weather conditions. The torch must then be replicated ... and replicated. It’s not just one torch making the journey to the Olympic stadium; it’s thousands. Anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 torches are constructed to accommodate the thousands of runners who carry them through each leg of the Olympic relay. Each runner has the opportunity to purchase his torch at the end of his leg of the relay. Although torch design and construction vary from year to year, the torch must always contain the same basic elements: · Fuel to create the flame · A fuel delivery system to get the flame out of the top of the torch · An aerodynamic design that is both lightweight and safe for the runner to carry The Flame The torch must stay lit the entire length of its journey. It must survive wind, rain, sleet, snow, and a variety of climates (desert, mountain, ocean). The torch must also: · Be light enough so that it is comfortable for each runner to carry (usually between 3 and 4 pounds or 1.4 and 1.8 kg) · Protect the runner from the heat of the flame (as well as from hot debris falling from the flame ) · Carry enough fuel to stay lit for the entire leg (and a bit extra, in case the leg takes longer than anticipated) · Have a bright flame that is visible even on a sunny day For fuel, early torches burned everything from gunpowder to olive oil. Some torches used a mixture of hexamine (a mixture of formaldehyde and ammonia) and naphthalene (the hydrogen and carbon-based substance in mothballs) with an igniting liquid. These substances weren’t always the most efficient fuel sources, and they were sometimes dangerous. In the 1956 games, the final torch in the relay was lit by magnesium and aluminum, burning chunks of which fell from the torch and seared the runner’s arms. The first liquid fuels were introduced at the 1972 Munich games. Torches since that time have carried liquid fuels-they are stored under pressure as a liquid, but burn as a gas to produce a flame. Liquid fuel is safe for the runner and can be stored in a lightweight canister. The Lighting of the Olympic Torch The Olympic torch is lit several months before the start of the actual games. The flame begins its journey at the site of the original Olympic Games-Olympia, Greece. It is lit, just as it was in ancient times, at the Temple of Hera. An actress dressed as a ceremonial priestess, in the robes of the ancient Greeks, lights the torch via the same technique used in the original Games. She uses a parabolic mirror to focus light rays from the sun. The parabolic mirror has a curved shape. When it is held toward the sun, the curvature focuses the rays to a single point. The energy from the sun creates a great deal of heat. The priestess holds a torch in the center of the parabolic mirror, and the heat ignites the fuel in the torch, sparking a flame. If the sun is not shining on the day of the lighting ceremony, the priestess can light the torch with a flame that was lit on a sunny day before the ceremony. The flame is carried in a fire pot to an altar in the ancient. Olympic stadium, where it is used to light the first runner’s torch. For the Winter Games, the relay actually begins at the monument to Pierre de Coubertin (the man who founded the modem Olympic games in 1896), which is located near the stadium. According to the passage, during the entire journey, the torch must______

A. be transparent
B. be extinct for the rain, wind or snow
C. put out since the runners have to climb over the mountain or across the desert
D. stay lit