Nazis invented the Olympic Torch Relay

[nibbler]

Modern Olympic torch relay first organised by Nazis in 1936 games

From The Times

August 6, 2008

Patrick Foster

In doing away with the torch relay, the organisers of the London 2012 Olympics will bring to an end a tradition that has been passed down not from the athletes of the ancient world, but rather from the Nazis.

In the sanctuary of Olympia, where the ancient Games took place, a flame burnt permanently on the altar of the goddess Hestia, but transportation of the flame to the site of the modern Olympics did not happen until the 1936 Games in Berlin.

Today, the International Olympic Committee says that the torch “transmits a message of peace and friendship amongst peoplesâ€. It was Carl Diem, Hitler's Games organiser, who proposed a torch relay from the site of the ancient flame.

Without the modern gas-fuelled torches we have today, it proved a logistical nightmare. Roads had to be laid at Olympia, which was barely accessible, transporting the flame across sea posed problems and extensive research went into developing specialist technology.

Nevertheless, the relay was a success, and the Winter Games followed its summer counterpart by introducing the ritual at the 1952 games, in Oslo - with a torch carried from the valley of Morgedal, in Norway.

Since the inception of the relay, the flame has travelled to the Games by skidoo, canoe, Concorde, horseback, steamboat, wagon, parachute and even by camel.

When airborne, the flame is kept burning in a security lamp, similar to a miner's lamp of old. At night, it is kept alight in a special cauldron.

In case it goes out, several fires are kept burning to ensure that every torch can trace its provenance back to the original fire at Olympia.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/london_2012/article4466834.ece

[phishtaper]

didnt the nazis also invent Fanta, highways, reel to reel tapes, flouridated water and volkwagens?

[Esau.]

didnt the nazis also invent Fanta, highways, reel to reel tapes, flouridated water and volkwagens?

Also, the first working computer, modern sewer treatment facilities and regular television broadcasts.