Ready to be United Again
by Corianne Egan
The Olympics are an event laden with tradition, but there is one event that happens before the world’s best come together. It happens before the hoopla of the opening ceremonies, and before we become glued to the TV for sports we otherwise could care less about (See: curling).
For the Olympics to begin at all, a torch has to be lit in Greece and carried hundreds of miles to wherever the games are being held. Most years, it’s journey goes unnoticed.
The flame was lit for the 2010 games on Thursday during an hour-long ceremony in Greece. After a shorter run through Greece, the torch will be held by over 12,000 people in a 106 day relay across Canada.
Even with the beauty and symbolism, the torch ceremony hasn’t been propery celebrated in some time. For the Beijing games, protesters stopped the flame, and the relay remained incomplete. Winter Olympic relays are usually unsuccessful as well, due to bad weather or more protests.
This year, with the cooperation of Mother Nature and the citizens of Canada, the torch will make one of it’s most valiant journies. The torch will travel to the North Pole (actually, the territory of Nunavat), to the games in Vancouver. It will travel from British Colombia to Nova Scotia. You can even follow it on the journey.
The Olympics have always symbolized the same thing: Countries of the world putting aside their differences for sport, and coming together because of it. This year, that may very well be a reality. 164 countries. 28,000 miles. One flame.
