ALISON STEWART, host:
Usually, there are cheers as the Olympic torch begins its relay towards its ultimate destination. Yesterday there were also jeers, when the torch set off on its around-the-world journey. Pro-Tibet activists interrupted the lighting of the torch in Olympia, Greece, and protests are expected to follow the torch all the way to Beijing, home of the '08 Summer Games, and beyond.
RACHEL MARTIN, host:
The protests complicate what's already an amazing feat, really, keeping a flame alive on a more than 150-day journey, touching each of the continents, and this year, attempting to take the flame to the top of the world, which raises some questions, a lot of questions, really. How do take this thing on an airplane? And do they keep it lit the whole time? What happens at night? Who started this whole torch thing anyway? So, for this and all matters Olympic, really, we turn to our friend, Olympic historian David Wallechinsky. Hi, David.
Mr. DAVID WALLECHINSKY (Author and Olympic Historian): Hi. How are you?
MARTIN: Doing well. Thanks for joining us. So, yesterday, as the torch was lit in ancient Olympia, all these protests began, and you watched the ceremony live on the Internet. And you have attended these lightings in the past. What goes on there?
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: Well, first of all, the lighting itself - they collect - they light the torch by using a parabolic mirror - use the sun. But all this takes place in private, in a sacred grove, and even the dignitaries who attend can't see it. Just, of course, the head of the Greek Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee, and then they walk it out.
They have actors and actresses dressed in ancient Greek outfits, and they walk into the ancient field of Olympia where the ancient Olympics were held, and they put on, kind of, a play symbolizing sport, and symbolizing unity and peace.
MARTIN: And do the public attend this play?
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: Yes, the public can attend, particularly locals, and it's free. And then, finally, they, the first runner appears, he's always a Greek runner. This time it was a Tai Kwan Do silver medalist, and he - the priestess, the woman dressed as the high priestess, lights his torch, and then he takes off, and he begins this, you know, 150-day torch relay.
And the first stop, traditionally, is a couple, like a mile away, which is where the heart of Baron de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, is buried, or is actually encased. And so they pay homage to him, and then it goes around. In this case, it's going to go around Greece for six days, and then it'll be handed over to the Beijing Olympic authorities, who will fly it to Beijing. They'll have a ceremony and then it'll set off on an international relay before returning to China.
MARTIN: OK, I want to get right into our questions. This flame has a long way to travel. I mean, honestly, does it stay lit the whole time? Let's start with the plane. When it's on the plane...
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: Yes.
MARTIN: How does it stay lit? This sounds like a fire hazard.
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: They actually - it stays lit. I, you know, I was amazed by this, too, but they have developed a technology that allows it to - of course, they isolate it from the passenger cabin, but they have like a miner's lamp, but a very sophisticated, high-tech one that allows the flame to stay lit. Just to be on the safe side, they also have a back-up flame that is lit.
MARTIN: OK, so this is my question. So, sometimes they go out, right?
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: Yes, sometimes it does go out, either because of rain or, you know, just - often they'll just have just enough gas to last a few minutes, and somebody will take too long to run their segment, and it goes out, and boom, they've got the back-up flame, and they'll race the torch over and, you know, relight it.
MARTIN: Is there any shame in being someone who carries the flame and then lets it go out?
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: If it's weather-related, it's not. Otherwise it can be definitely embarrassing.
STEWART: And I'm assuming it flies first class.
MARTIN: Yeah. This'll get its own seat.
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: No, it's actually on a private jet.
STEWART: Oh, I see. Even better.
MARTIN: OK, David, what about at night? Does it stay lit at night?
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: Yes. They keep it definitely - keep it lit at night. Often on the airplane, if that's where it is, or they'll bring it to like the city hall of the town that's welcoming the, you know, the whole crew overnight.
MARTIN: Does it have a torch babysitter, a torch guard that watches over it?
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: Yes.
MARTIN: A guardian?
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: They do. Interestingly enough there's a - you know, to go back, you know, the torch relay, yes, they did have a lit cauldron back in the ancient days. But the modern torch relay began, it was created by the Nazis in 1936, and they wanted to do this whole Aryan, we're connected with ancient Greece, and so they encouraged the Greeks, who were delighted to have a ceremony and, you know, be part of the Olympics again, and then they ran it to Berlin.
And then there was a 12-year gap when there was no Olympics because of World War II, and when it came back in London in '48, everybody had conveniently forgot about the Nazis, and the - kind of the good part of the relay had remained. And there's wonderful pictures of Oxford students sitting next to the cauldron reading books, to make sure it stayed lit during the games.
MARTIN: Hm. David, how are these protests that are happening this year ahead of the Beijing Games going to affect the torch?
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: This is a...
MARTIN: Because there are some security concerns.
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: Very big story. This is a very big story, because this is the first time that the Olympics have been hosted by a dictatorship since 1980, when the games were in Moscow. And if you know anything about Olympic history, back in 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced a boycott of those games.
MARTIN: Uh huh.
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: So, whatever protests might have taken place during the torch relay did not, because the countries that were objecting to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan didn't have anything to do with the torch relay. So, this is really the first time that we're seeing the possibility of major and continuing protests until the torch gets to China.
MARTIN: And specifically, I mean, this torch - they're splitting off a part of it, and it's going to try to go up Everest, right?
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: Yes. They're going to try to take a - the flame - first of all, you have to understand it's not really, even though even I call it a torch relay, it's really "the relay of the flame," because each runner has their own torch, and they light the torch of the next person, so it's the flame that keeps going. So what they are going to try to do, they are going to try to take part of the flame and they are going to try to climb Mt. Everest from the north, from the Chinese side.
And they are very, very nervous, the Chinese, that the Tibetans and other protestors are going to climb Mt. Everest from the south, from Nepal. And so the Chinese, using whatever means, we are not quite sure, convinced the Nepalese government to close off Mt. Everest for the next few months, for the next three months actually, so that nobody can get to Mt. Everest and be waiting there when the torch arrives.
MARTIN: So, the drama is unfolding even before we get to Beijing with the torch relay. Hey, David Wallechinsky, Olympic historian, friend of the BPP, thanks so much. David, we appreciate your help.
Mr. WALLECHINSKY: Thank you.
STEWART: Next up on the show, the Supreme Court is hearing a case of two Americans being held in Iraq. The U.S. wants to turn them over to the Iraqis, but the men say their case should be heard in U.S. courts. We'll hear all about it from NPR's Nina Totenberg. This is the Bryant Park Project from NPR News.
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