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Nearly 100 years of lighting the Olympic flame

From Ancient Olympia to the opening ceremony, the Olympic flame has played a big part in the Games for nearly a century.

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Boxing legend Muhammad Ali lights the Olympic flame during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games opening ceremony in Atlanta, July 19, 1996. [Michael Probst/AP Photo]
By AP
Published On 26 Mar 2021

The Olympic flame was introduced at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. The torch relay began eight years later ahead of the 1936 Berlin Games.

“In the context of the modern Games, the Olympic flame is a manifestation of the positive values that man has always associated with the symbolism of fire,” the International Olympic Committee says.

The flame begins its life at a lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia, where the original Olympics were held for centuries.

Over the years, the flame has played a bigger and bigger role at the opening ceremony, with the identity of the final torchbearer – often former Olympic greats from the host country – the topic of feverish discussion.

Muhammad Ali, a gold medalist at the 1960 Rome Olympics, lit the torch at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Four years later, Cathy Freeman lit the flame in Sydney and became the only person to light a cauldron and win a gold medal in the same games when she finished first in the 400 metres.

One of the most memorable lighting ceremonies came at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo shot a fiery arrow over the top of the cauldron, igniting the gases from within.

The torch relay for the postponed Tokyo Games began on Thursday, but it is unlikely we will know the name of the person who will light the cauldron at the opening ceremony on July 23 until moments before it happens.

Doves were released during the opening ceremony for the Tenth Olympiad in Los Angeles on July 30, 1932. [AP Photo]
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The Olympic torch in Lustgarten, Berlin, was lit on August 1, 1936, and guarded by members of the Hitler Youth until it was brought to the Olympic stadium for the opening of the Games. Berlin marked the first time the torch relay was held. The Games took place in a politically charged atmosphere and their hero was African-American athlete Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals including the 100-metre sprint. [AP Photo]
British athlete John Mark holds the Olympic Flame as he runs on the Olympic track during the opening ceremony of the XIV Olympiad, in Wembley Stadium in London on July 29, 1948. [AP Photo]
Runner Paavo Nurmi, of Finland, lights the Olympic flame from the Olympic torch during July 19, 1952, opening ceremony in Helsinki, Finland. [AP Photo]
Australian athlete Ron Clark, (left), plunges the Olympic torch into the bronze bowl, to light the Olympic flame for the XVI Olympic Games, in Melbourne, Australia, on November 22, 1956. [AP Photo]
Italian student Giancarlo Peris holds the torch after lighting the Olympic flame in the tall tripod brazier on the perimeter of the Olympic Stadium in Rome, on August 25, 1960, at the formal opening of the XVII modern Olympiad. [AP Photo]
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Japanese runner Yoshinori Sakai lights the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Sakai was born in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the day the nuclear weapon destroyed the city. He was chosen to open the 1964 Games as a symbol of the rebirth of Japan after the World War II. Olympic organisers say the true spirit of the games is to bring humanity together to promote amity and human excellence. But an undertone of politics has been present at every Olympics for several decades. [AP Photo]
The Olympic Torch burns during the opening day ceremony in Mexico City, on October 12, 1968. [AP Photo]
Runner Guenther Zahn stands near the Olympic flame he lit above the Olympic Stadium on August 26, 1972, during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. [AP Photo]
Gymnast Sandra Henderson (left) and track and field athlete Stéphane Préfontaine light the Olympic Flame during the 1976 Montreal Olympics, on July 17, 1976. [AP Photo]
Soviet athlete Sergei Belov runs with the Olympic flame past the Afghanistan team during opening ceremonies of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow on Saturday, July 20, 1980. A number of teams boycotted the ceremony to protest against the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. [AP Photo]
Rafer Johnson, the 1960 gold medalist for the decathlon, lights the Olympic torch during the opening ceremonies of the 23rd Olympiad in Los Angeles in 1984. [AP Photo]
Pigeons fly around as the Olympic torch is lit during opening ceremonies in Seoul on September 17, 1988. [Michel Lipchitz/AP Photo]
An arrow carrying the Olympic flame leaves the bow of Antonio Rebollo to light the Olympic Torch and open the XXV Olympic in Barcelona on July 25, 1992. [Dominique Mollard/AP Photo]
Australian Olympic athlete Cathy Freeman, an Indigenous woman, ignites the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics on September 15, 2000, at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney. While some saw Freeman's central role in the ceremony as a sign of the strength of Australia's ethnic relations, the response from Aboriginal people was cooler. [Victoria Arocho/AP Photo]
Nikolaos Kaklamanakis stands with the Olympic torch after lighting the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, on August 13, 2004.[Mark Humphrey/AP Photo]
Gymnast Li Ning lights the Olympic Torch during the opening ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympics in the Chinese capital, on August 8, 2008. [Julie Jacobson/AP Photo]
The Olympic cauldron is lit during the opening ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics on July 28, 2012, in London. [Paul Sancya/AP Photo]
Jorge Alberto Oliveira Gomes lights the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 6, 2016. [Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo]