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The torch was also carried into space for the first time, with astronauts taking an unlit torch with them aboard Space Shuttle Columbia as part of STS-78. [4] [5] [6] The relay involved over 12,000 torchbearers, including Muhammad Ali, who was chosen to ignite the Olympic cauldron. [7]
During this celebration, Muhammad Ali lit a 2002 Olympic torch from the flame in the temporary cauldron, which he then passed to Olympians Peggy Fleming and Bob Paul, who began the 2002 Winter Olympics torch relay. [26] Some elements of the torch relay route were altered or canceled in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Special ...
The first well-known major athlete to light the cauldron was nine-time Olympic champion Paavo Nurmi at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Other famous final torch bearers include 1960 decathlon gold medallist Rafer Johnson, who became the first person of African descent to light the cauldron at the 1984 Summer Olympics, [1] French football star Michel Platini (), heavyweight boxing champion ...
There perhaps is not a more symbolic and equally visible item at the Olympic Games than the Olympic torch.. Whether it was Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic cauldron during the 1996 Atlanta ...
Though the Olympic torch is inspired by the Games' ancient Greece prototype, it was first used in modern form at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics. From that time forward, the object has been ...
At the end of the first Olympic torch relay, the Olympic flame arrives in Berlin, 1936. The Olympic torch relay, which transports the Olympic flame from Olympia, Greece to the various designated sites of the Games, had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. [16]
The highest ceremonial honor a host nation can bestow, the cauldron lighter is traditionally an Olympic figure of the highest standing — think Muhammad Ali in Atlanta in 1996, or Naomi Osaka in ...
Muhammad Ali ran with the torch in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, [27] while another Olympic gold medalist from the state, Tamara McKinney, started the next day's leg in Lexington. [28] The First Lady of Tennessee, Leslee "Honey" Alexander, wife of Governor Lamar Alexander, carried the torch onto the University of Tennessee campus in ...