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John Millen

Only 217 days to go

A

The road to Beijing

The torch of the 29th Olympiad will be lit at Olympia in Greece on March 26, 2008. This important date suddenly jumped a whole lot nearer when the Olympic torch relay route was unveiled at the Millennium Monument in Beijing in April. And what a journey the torch will make! It will cover the longest distance and have the largest number of people carrying it of any Olympic torch in Olympic history. The torch will travel through 20 countries around the world, including Britain, the United States, France, Australia, India and Japan. It will be carried through Hong Kong and Macau before beginning a mammoth trip to more than 100 cities on the mainland before arriving in Beijing to light the Olympic fire during the opening ceremony of the Games. Who will be the final runner to bring the torch into the Olympic Stadium at the end of its journey? We will have to wait until next August for the answer to that one. Who do you think it should be?

1. The Olympic torch will be lit in March 2008 in Beijing. (True/False)

2. The torch will be carried through 20 different countries. (True/False)

3. The name of the final relay runner has already been announced. (True /False)

B

China's Olympic torch

For each Olympiad, the host country puts a lot of thought and effort into getting the design of their torch absolutely right. The torch is an important symbol and it must represent to the whole world the culture of the host country and city. The design of the 2008 Beijing torch is sleek, modern and eye-catching. Taking its shape from a rolled-up traditional Chinese scroll, the Beijing torch is deep red and gleaming silver. A pattern of swirling clouds drawn in red on the silver background covers the top half of the torch. The handle half is coated with red rubber paint which makes the torch very comfortable and secure to hold. The torch is made from a polished aluminium alloy. It measures 720mm x 50mm x 40 mm and is extremely lightweight. All the relay runners will feel very proud as they carry the 'Cloud of Promise' torch around the world towards its destination in Beijing.

4. The Beijing 2008 Olympic torch gets its shape from a Chinese scroll. (True/False)

5. The colours of the 2008 torch are gold and red. (True/False)

6. The Beijing torch is made of stainless steel. (True/False)

C

How the torch stays lit

Imagine the scene. You are one of the relay runners carrying the Olympic torch towards Beijing. Suddenly there is a big gust of wind and to your horror the flame is blown out. This is a nightmare situation and the engineers behind the design of the torch have to make sure that it does not happen. Each torch contains a canister full of a special fuel that burns without smoke. There is enough liquid gas to last for about 20 minutes which gives the runners sufficient time to complete their leg of the relay. Each runner flips a switch on the torch to release the gas a few moments before he begins his run and as he sets off he picks up the flame from the previous relay runner. Each torch has a highly efficient burner that provides a strong flame that will burn in winds of up to 80 kilometres an hour. Once the Olympic flame is lit in Greece, it must still be burning when it arrives in Beijing.

7. The body of each Olympic torch contains a cylinder of gas. (True/False)

8. The Olympic torch is lit by electricity. (True/ False)

9. The torch flame produces a lot of smoke. (True / False)

D

My Olympic fact file

Pick one word from this list to complete each sentence

wide / clouds / mystery / electricity / countries / greatest / cities / shortest /gas /secret /moons / tall

1. The Beijing torch will cover the ............................... distance in Olympic history.

2. The torch will travel though 20 different ..........................

3. The Olympic torch is fuelled by ...............................

4. The name of the last person to carry the torch is a ......................

5. The 2008 Beijing torch has a design of .......................... on its top half.

6. The torch is 720 mm ...............................

Answers

1. False 2. True 3. False 4. True 5. False 6. False 7. True 8. False 9. False; 1. greatest

2. countries 3. gas 4. secret 5. clouds 6. tall



The Beijing 2008 Olympics Games