Olympic Dream
Torch Designer Hopes Relay Delivers Peaceful Message

Listen to Howard Berkes' report on the Olympic torch.

More NPR News radio coverage of the Olympics.

Greek skier Lefteris Fatalis starts the 2002 Winter Olympics torch relay in Olympia, Greece. Nov. 19, 2001. Photo: Reuters © 2001

The 2002 Olympic torch is 33 inches long, weighs three pounds and features glass cut to look like ice. Photo: Justin Reynolds, Axiom Design

Nov. 19, 2001 -- During the ancient Olympic Games, a holy torch burned continuously on the altar of Zeus. On Monday, the Olympic flame once again blazed in Olympia, Greece. Over the weekend, a parabolic mirror focused the heat of the sun on an ancient bowl filled with olive leaves and branches, setting them ablaze.

In a ceremony today, that flame lit the first official torch of the 2002 Winter Olympics. More than 11,000 runners will carry the flame in a 46-state relay that begins Dec. 4 in Atlanta -- the last place the Olympic flame burned on U.S. soil -- and ends at the site of the games in Salt Lake City, Utha, on Feb. 8.

NPR's Howard Berkes reports for Morning Edition that Brent Watts, one of the designers of the torch, found special meaning in the project, especially in the wake of the events of Sept. 11.

Watts' firm, Axiom Design, specializes in movie tie-ins, branding and packaging. On the shelf of his Salt Lake City office, next to the Muppets and Curious George, is the official torch of the Salt Lake City Olympics. The torch features an icy-looking glass top that both shields and shows the flame. The design evokes the theme of these games: "Light the Fire Within."

To Watts, the sight of the Olympic torch crossing America is "quite emotional, because it really embodies, especially in the timing of what (is happening) in our world now, the ability to unify people. And the ability to create peace. And the ability to create something greater. We need that…we desperately need any expression of unity in this world."

Olympic Torch Relay Facts • Total distance: more than 13,500 miles • 11,500 torchbearers to participate • Relay spans 46 states over 65 days • Average distance: 208 miles per day • Relays last 12 hours per day • Flame lit in Greece is kept in a lantern, which is used to light the flame each morning of the relay • Flame will travel by foot, auto, plane, train, ship, dog sled, skier, horse-drawn sleigh, snowmobile and other modes Source: Salt Lake Olympic Committee

Other Resources

• The Olympic Museum history of the Olympic flame, torch relay

• International Olympic Committee history of Olympic torches

• Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Torch Relay Map

• 2002 state-by-state list of torchbearers

• 'The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games' by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology

E-mail this Page

 

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes    No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes    No
Please send me updates from NPR.	Yes    No
(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)