It’s now well known that the Berlin Olympics of 1936 were the first at which a torch relay was introduced, and - as is clear from the official report of that Games - a lot of thought was put into the arrangements, with very careful planning in order to anticipate any problems; so that when some of the torches proved unexpectedly faulty in Yugoslavia and the torch bearers had to be whisked on their way by car before the flame went out, procedures were already in place to allow for the change in the schedule. The organisers in 1936 seem to have experienced something of a superstitious frisson at the prospect of the flame going out, so in addition to the torch itself, a car was driven alongside the runners containing another flame (with the same provenance of course) in a ‘ships lantern’. They don’t seem to have had to use it however.

The same amount of thought, if not more, has gone into the staging of all the torch relays since then, and London 2012 seems to be no exception. Apparently 95 per cent of the population will be no further than 10 miles away from the relay, which represents an impressive logistical achievement, bearing in mind that the relay has to take in all the principal tourist sights as well. An interview with Sebastian Coe on the BBC website gives this fact lots of emphasis; it is interesting, though, that Lord Coe doesn’t seem unduly concerned about the prospect of the flame going out. Apparently they’ve tested the torch in 35 mile an hour winds, and it seems to be doing the business. 

 Further details about the Olympic torch, and the torch bearers, have been recently released by LOCOG and I was somewhat surprised to learn that the greater part of the nominations for individuals to carry the flame have been given to the corporate sponsors, with only the magic number of 2012 nominations being made available for public vote. The sponsors themselves have made it clear that they will be using the same criteria as LOCOG when it comes to allocating their places, and that they will be awarding the honours to those who are considered to have deserved them. However, there is bound to be controversy about the sheer number of sponsor nominations -  amounting to nearly 6000 - and a lot of scrutiny will inevitably be applied to those who are chosen. In the media so far we have mainly been shown heart-warming pictures of very young and much older torch bearers, the iconic images being those of Dominic MacGowan (11) and Diana Gould (99).

 I blush to admit that I hadn’t known until recently that it isn’t one Olympic torch we’re talking about, but lots of them. It’s the flame that goes the whole way, being passed en route from one torch to the other. That means that at least 8000 will have to be manufactured, and seemingly the torch bearers will be allowed to buy the one they carry. In 1936, the official report tells us that “a special commemoration diploma was designed for the participants in the Olympic torch relay run” and that sounds to me like a good idea, and not so expensive an option souvenir-wise.

 The BBC has set up web pages dedicated to the torch relay for those interested in its many ramifications.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12004490