ESO YEAR 3 - READING: Going for Gold

DUE FRIDAY 27TH JANUARY

CHAPTER 3 - POPULAR SYMBOLS OF THE OLYMPICS (part 2/2)
Torch bearers transfer the flame by touching their torches to the next bearer's torch. Bearers use all kinds of transport to carry the torch. Once, a bearer and his torch flew faster than the speed of sound aboard the Concorde jet! Another time, a scuba diver took the flame underwater! Astronauts even carried a copy of the torch into space before the 2000 Sydney Olympics - but  they didn't light it!
The torch travels different routes and distances during each Olympics. It travelled 775 kilometres in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and 78,000 kilometres in the 2004 Athens Games. For the Athens Olympics, organisers sent the flame to every continent! In 1996, 10,000 people passed the flame from Los Angeles to Atlanta.
Originally, all the torch bearers were athletes. Over time, the committee began to invite people of all ages to carry the torch. Sometimes a celebrity lights the cauldron. Other times. a young person lights it to represent hope for the future. It's a great honout to be part of the torch's journey to the Olympics.