Olympic Flame

The Olympic Flame or Olympic Torch is a symbol of the Olympic Games. A committee plans the route that it goes through, which ends at the city where the event is being hosted. Sometimes people use the torch route to make a point. During the 2008 Olympic torch relay to Beijing, people talked about and held signs that were against China's human rights record and signs that said Tibet was not a part of China.

Other websites

• IOC brochure on the history of Olympic Flame (1 MB PDF)
• Olympic torch technology