EXPLAINER LIGHTS UP THE MONTREAL-DESIGNED OLYMPIC TORCH.
1 Here it is, the specially designed torch that represents the Vancouver Games. It took roughly two years for Bombardier to design and produce this special flame carrier. (It received the right to do so via a special sponsorship package with the Games.) Starting in December of 2007, Daniel Deschênes, an industrial designer for Bombardier Transportation, began imagining what the torch should look like. Roughly 10 designers from Bombardier gathered together to submit designs. In the end, Deschênes's sketches were integrated with those of fellow designer Bruno Comtois to create the torch. "I like the Olympics, and I really enjoy watching the fast sports like short track speed skating," Deschênes says. "These athletes really rely on their equipment... and you find that in every winter sport there is at some point some stainless steel that grips into the ice or snow." He also thought about "the vast open Canadian landscape with snow drifts that are shaped by the wind." In the end, the torch design evokes images of snow drifts and tracks left in the snow by skis, or by a skater on the ice. It also incorporates aluminum at the top, which looks similar to a blade, but is also there to handle the high heat generated by the flame. The rest of the torch is made of composite materials. It weighs
2 The flame was lit in Greece last week, and as of tomorrow it starts its journey across Canada. The torch will travel into every province and territory. Twelve thousand Canadians will take part in the relay, which lasts over 100 days, reaches roughly 1,000 different communities and covers 45,000 km. Deschênes doesn't get to carry the torch, but he'll be on hand when it passes through his hometown in Quebec. He says there have been times in the past when the torch was blown out during the relay, but backup flames, which are also lit in Greece, are always close by. "There are two special lanterns that hold the original Olympic flame nearby, because we won't relight the torch from any other source," he says. So using a Zippo wouldn't be cool? "No."
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