Torches

The Olympic Flame or Olympic Torch is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The fire was reintroduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, and it has been part of the modern Olympic Games ever since. The torch relay of modern times which transports the flame from Greece to the various designated sites of the games had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem at the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics. The modern Olympic Games have become as much a global contest among designers and architects as among athletes. Each Olympics is expected to produce a logo, an orientation system — and a characteristic torch that symbolizes local tradition and national character. This is a design history of the Olympic Torch from 1936 to the present day.

Berlin 1936		London 1948		Oslo 1952
Helsinki 1952		Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956		Stockholm 1956
Melbourne 1956		Squaw Valley 1960		Rome 1960
Innsbruck 1964		Tokyo 1964		Grenoble 1968
Mexico 1968 #1		Mexico 1968 #2		Mexico 1968 #3
Sapporo 1972		Munich 1972		Innsbruck 1976
Montréal 1976		Lake Placid 1980		Moscow 1980
Sarajevo 1984		Los Angeles 1984		Calgary 1988
Seoul 1988		Albertville 1992		Barcelona 1992
Lillehammer 1994		Atlanta 1996		Nagano 1998
Sydney 2000		Salt Lake 2002		Athens 2004
Torino 2006		Beijing 2008		Vancouver 2010
London 2012		Sochi 2014