Olympic Torch

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. According to legend, the torch's flame has been kept burning, ever since the first Olympics. 

  The Olympic Torch today is ignited several months before the opening celebration of the Olympic Games at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. Eleven women, representing the Vestal Virgins, perform a ceremony in which the torch is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror. The Olympic Torch Relay ends on the day of the opening ceremony in the central stadium of the Games. The final carrier is often kept unannounced until the last moment, and is usually a sports celebrity of the host country. The final bearer of the torch runs towards the cauldron, often placed at the top of a grand staircase, and then uses the torch to start the flame in the stadium. It is considered a great honor to be asked to light the Olympic Flame. After being lit, the flame continues to burn throughout the Olympics, and is extinguished on the day of the closing ceremony. 

As Olympic torches go, this one's pretty sweet elegant design. The shell of The Torch for the games is aluminum alloy with the internal equipment in steel, copper and polymer. The surface finishing provides an embossing to make the grip easier and special painting resistant to high temperatures.The Torch is stocked with a propylene-butane contained in a spray-type canister in standard aluminum. 

The styling concept of the design by R & R is a modern reinterpretation of the traditional wooden torch in which the metal itself appears to catch fire and burn. When lit, the flame wraps the body of the Torch rather than coming out from a hole on the top, as in the past editions. At nearly 2.6 lbs, runners will easily carry the aluminum to the opening ceremony.