The World Competes

The Youth Olympic flame was just lit a couple of days ago in Greece, and already it has made its way to Berlin and Dakar (I had to look up Dakar, it is the capital of Senegal, which is located on the west coast of Africa). There are still 20 days to go until the Youth Olympics begin… perhaps once the flame makes its way around the world, they will have a torch relay in Singapore. That would make sense.

If you’re on Facebook, the Youth Olympic Games have their own page, and you can see pictures of the event. I’m not including the pictures here due to copyright reasons.

The modern Olympic flame did not originate with the first modern Olympics in 1896. It was re-introduced during the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. The torch relay began with the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

If you ever get the chance to take part in a torch relay or Olympic flame ceremony, I highly recommend it. I was able to take part in the torch relay kickoff in Los Angeles for the Atlanta Games in 1996, and although most of the day was a blur, I do remember getting to run into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum carrying the American flag, and it was awesome.