Olympic Torch Design History in Pictures

The modern Olympic Games have become as much a global contest among designers and architects as among athletes. Each Olympics is expected to produce a logo, a signature building - and a characteristic torch that is symbolizes local tradition and national character. Below, a design history of the Olympic Torch from 1936 to the present day.
 

Berlin Summer 1936

 The first torch relay was staged ahead of the Berlin Games. Designed by sculptor Walter Lemcke and manufactured by steel and armaments giant Freidrich Krupp, 3,840 torches were made for 3,331 runners.

Two separate fuses ensured they could re-ignite should the burning point fall away. They were stainless steel, 27cm long and weighed 450g.
 

London Summer 1948

The last time the Olympic Games and a torch relay were held in the UK was in 1948. That torch was designed by Ralph Lavers, a fan of classical architecture. He needed to create something inexpensive but well-crafted for a torch to travel across Europe ahead of the "Austerity Games". Two types were made - one aluminium, with hexamine/naphthalene tablets stacked up inside and one for the final stretch in the stadium with a magnesium flame in a stainless steel holder, to be seen in bright daylight.
 

Helsinki Summer 1952

Only 22 torches were made, rather than a mass production of hundreds. Instead, there were 1,600 gas canisters made to fuel them. Men ran with the torch for a 1km stretch, women slightly less. The torches were passed between runners and swapped for one with a fresh canister after about 20 minutes.

A 600g silver top rested in a curly birch holder. They were given to Olympic and sports organisations after the Games.
 

Melbourne Summer 1956

Ralph Lavers' London design is credited with inspiring the Melbourne torches. Equestrian events were held in Stockholm so the torch travelled to Sweden and Australia. Down Under, the torch was diverted around floods and braved bumpy roads that threatened to extinguish the back-up miners' lights. The times estimated for runners to complete each mile varied as it went through the tropics and temperate climes. It reached Melbourne after being carried 20,470km by 3,118 runners.
 

Rome Summer 1960

The slim, fluted design of the bronzed aluminium 580g torch was based on those seen on ancient monuments. The relay travelled from Greece, following the course taken by the ancients when they founded colonies on Sicily and the Italian peninsular to create Magna Grecia.
 

Tokyo Summer 1964

The torch travelled by air, land and sea from Olympia to Tokyo. In Japan, the flame split along four routes before reuniting. Yoshinori Sakai, born in Hiroshima on 6 August, 1945, the day the atomic bomb dropped, was the final runner and lit the cauldron. When the torch entered the stadium, chrysanthemum perfume was released from sprayers under the spectator stands.

Mexico City Summer 1968

The 3,000 whisk-like torches featured a 3-D Mexico '68 emblem on the flaming top. The relay followed the route of Christopher Columbus from Europe to the New World where, for the first time, the cauldron was lit by a woman, Enriqueta Basileo. The solid fuel mixture was unexpectedly volatile - some minor explosions occurred and runners were slightly burned.
 

Munich Summer 1972

 Otl Aicher's widely-adopted sporting stickmen were a key design feature of the Games. The gas torch was made of nickel chromium steel in three parts - handle, plate and fire pipe screwed together.

It was tested for resilience to extreme weather - including with a hand-spray to simulate heavy rain.

But not for extreme heat - when temperatures hit 46C en route from Greece to Germany, special pressurised torches had to be used.

Montreal Summer 1976

'How will it look on TV?' was a major consideration for Georges Huel and Michel Dallaire. They designed a red-handled torch with black burner and a gold and black special presentation edition. The flame was for the first time carried by a laser beam via satellite from Athens to Ottowa. But the torch ran on the more-traditional olive oil. On 22 July the Olympic cauldron went out during a storm and was re-lit from the back-up flame.

Moscow Summer 1980

Different again from what had come before, the gold and silver torch had a cup on top of a burner and the handle was shielded by a protective screen.

Leningrad enterprises made 6,200 gas torches designed by Boris Tuchin. It was registered as a state invention of the USSR and given certificate number 729414.
 

Los Angeles Summer 1984

The torch was made from spun aluminium with a brass finish and a leather handle. It featured a picture of the Memorial Coliseum, the venue for the 1984 and 1932 LA Games.

But the relay was controversial as the US sold the right to run each kilometre of the relay to runners for $3,000, displeasing the Greeks. Two hours in to the relay, the USSR announced it would boycott the Games, in a reversal of the US-led boycott four years earlier. But this did not stop thousands lining the route of the torch.
 

Seoul Summer 1988

The Korea Explosive Company Ltd made this brass, plastic and leather-handled torch in a design similar to its immediate predecessors. Traditional Korean graphics including two dragons symbolised the harmony of East and West. The torch covered a mammoth 22-day, 4,167.8km route, through 21 cities, carried by 1,467 torchbearers, with thousands of assistants and escorts.
 

Barcelona Summer 1992

Andre Ricard, an industrial designer from Barcelona, made a deliberately different torch that aimed to be "latin" in character. The relay passed through 652 centres with bicycle relays on the sparsely-populated runs. The cauldron was lit at Montjuic Olympic stadium by a flaming arrow shot from the bow of Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo.
 

Atlanta Summer 1996

Malcolm Grear's design of a handful of reeds bound together with twine was inspired by ancient torches. Twenty-two aluminium reeds represented each Olympic Games. With a pecan-wood centre handle, it was the longest summer torch. Modifications were made after some reeds melted, the flame was hard to see and it went out on the Greek leg of the relay.
 

Sydney Summer 2000

The Sydney Opera house, a boomerang's curves and Pacific Ocean blue inspired the design. Its three overlapping components also represent Earth, fire and water. After a 10-day Greek relay, it showcased Australia from Uluru to the Great Barrier Reef. Aboriginal sprinter Cathy Freeman lit the flame in the Olympic Stadium and went on to win the 400m.
 

Beijing Summer 2008

The paper scroll shape of the torch and the "lucky" or "auspicious cloud" graphics commonly used in Chinese mythology were intended to portray harmony. And the torch was meant to symbolise a green, high-tech, people's Olympics. An ambitious, longest-ever torch relay was run across five continents and China, but it frequently drew protests.
 

London Summer 2012

With London hosting the Games for a third time, a three-sided torch has been created by design firm Barber Osgerby. Golden, and made of shaped sheets of aluminium alloy, each torch is perforated with 8,000 holes representing the 8,000 torchbearers taking part in the relay. At 80cm it is one of the tallest torches but also one of the lightest, weighing 800-850g including its central propane-butane burner. Its proportions will allow it to be carried easily by younger torchbearers.