The Olympic torch's shadowy past

The Olympic torch's shadowy past

By Chris Bowlby BBC News

The Olympic torch is being welcomed this weekend in the UK as a symbol of the sporting spirit, uniting people around the world in peaceful competition.

But the idea of lighting the torch at the ancient Olympian site in Greece and then running it through different countries has much darker origins.

It was invented in its modern form by the organisers of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

And it was planned with immense care by the Nazi leadership to project the image of the Third Reich as a modern, economically dynamic state with growing international influence.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

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Olympic flame leaves Thessaloniki

"Amidst tight security and accusations by journalists of state sanctioned censorship the Olympic flame reached Thessaloniki, the Greece’s second city.However, the controversy and protests that dogged the flame’s lighting ceremony in Olympia were repeated when police detained and arrested demonstrators last night attempting to approach Aristotelous square, the flames eventual destination."

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