Discussions

I was enlightened & surprised by Gwynne Dyer's article in today's Free Press on the history of the Olympic Flame. Althought I admit to not having actually known, I think that, had anyone asked me of it's origin, I'd likely have answered that I thought it would have some deep meaning connected to the original run to (or maybe from) Marathon, way back when, with the news that a war had been won. Not so; it was in fact, "invented" in 1936 when Nazi Germany arranged for 3,442 "racially pure" Aryan runners to do a relay race, carrying an "Olympic Torch" over 3,442 kms from the Temple of Hera on Mount Olympus to the stadium in Berlin.  
 
Now, the flame is held in high revere yet was never a part of any Olympic games before 1936.