Olympic Torch Relay 2010

On October 22, 2009, the Olympic Flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece and make the long journey to Victoria, B.C. marking the official countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Starting October 30, the torch will embark on a journey known as the Olympic Torch Relay. The torch will travel over 45,000km across Canada, making it the longest Olympic Torch Relay in history to be contained within the Host Country.

The relay will take place over 100 days, concluding at the Opening Ceremonies in Vancouver on February 12, 2010. The torch will visit over 1,000 communities across Canada where 90% of Canada’s population will be within a one-hour drive of experiencing the Olympic Flame. Traveling by various methods of transportation including unusual ones such as seaplane, dogsled, Haida canoe, zipline, and tall ships, 12,000 people have been selected to be Olympic Torchbearers. The relay will visit each province and territory, with an extensive tour of the North including Alert, Nunavut, the northernmost permanently inhabited community in the world. Communities in every province and territory will be host to nearly 200 celebrations as the Olympic Flame passes through.
The Torch Relay has always been an important part of the Olympics, representing peace, brotherhood and enlightenment. In Greece during the ancient Games of Olympia, torch and relay races were important elements of the festivities. The Games of Olympia marked a time of peace and unity, as heralds would travel from village to village declaring a sacred truce for the duration of the Games. These events continue to hold a deep ritual significance and are still upheld in the modern-day Olympic Torch Relay. In 1936, Carl Diem, an Olympic historian and philosopher, created the first modern-day Olympic Torch Relay at the Summer Olympics in Berlin.

The Olympic Games has always represented a time of peace and friendship among nations. For 27 days every two years, the world unites for a truly positive cause; to celebrate humanity through sport. For that brief moment in time, race, religion, gender, sexuality, and gender don’t matter. For that brief period in time, we are one. Let the upcoming Torch Relay be an inspiration to uphold friendship, respect, and kindness above all, and pass it on.

Interested in following the Olympic Torch around Canada? An interactive map has been created at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games website with a full schedule of the torch’s upcoming journey and to track its progress across the country in the following weeks.