THE CANADIAN PRESS
WHISTLER, B.C. -- Chris Wray arrived in Whistler on a snowy cold Thursday morning grasping one piece of Olympic history and hoping to catch a glimpse of another.
In his hands, a torch from the 1936 Summer Olympics, the first time a relay was held for the Games.
In his sights, the torch for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which will run the longest domestic route in Games history.
"I think the spirit of the torch relay is exactly the same (in every Games)," he said.
"It energizes and infuses people because you see the flame coming to your community."
The torch for the 2010 Games was released Thursday to mark the one-year countdown to the Olympics.
Around 1,000 people packed the village square in Whistler to see it unveiled.
They oohed and aahed over the results.
"It was pretty cool, the freshness of it," said Teri Davis, 14, from near by Squamish, B.C.
The torch is almost a metre long and white, with silver blades running up the sides.
Designers took their inspiration from the curved lines cut by skis into the sides of snowy mountains.
"We wanted to create an object that had almost a windblown look," said Timothy Fagan, the industrial designer of the torch.
He and the rest of the design team from Bombardier spent over a year working on the Olympic icon.
A red maple leaf also adorns one side of the torch, and while stylistic, it also provides the air intake for the flame.
Unlike torches from past Games, the 2010 flame won't burn from a cauldron.
It will instead unfurl from a slice in the side of the torch.
"It will (flow) just like a flag, a flag flame," said Hugues Gregoire, the lead project engineer.
The flame will burn from a combination of fuels and will stay lit for at least 12 minutes.
That's a far cry from the 1936 Games, observed Wray, who bought his torch at an auction in London 15 years ago.
There, the flame only burned for five minutes as runners covered 1,000 kilometres.
The relay in '36 was linked to Adolf Hitler's desire to win sympathy for his politics, but it also began the tradition of having a flame run through a host country to unite the people around the Games.
Canada's torch relay begins in October in Victoria and will travel 45,000 kilometres up and across Canada.
Twelve thousand Canadians will have a chance to carry the torch, wearing white, blue and green track suits also unveiled on Thursday.
."We took a look at the winter landscape for Canada," said Jeffrey Sherman, the chief executive officer of HBC, which designed and produced the uniforms.
"The colour white is very indicative of the winter and is a symbol of peace and hope around the world," he said.
But no Canadian ensemble would be complete without a dash of red, he added.
The torch bearers will receive red mittens to keep their hands warm along the route.
"It should be an exciting time," said Caleb Taylor, who was the first torch bearer selected by relay sponsor RBC.
He'll run with the torch next February in Regina.
"I think Olympics represent all things good in sport," he said.
"If you look at some of the triumphs we celebrate and how graceful our athletes are in defeat, those are the same skills we try and teach our kids."
Some facts about the torch:
Designer: Bombardier
Weight with fuel: 1.6 kilograms
Length: 94.5 centimetres
Materials: Stainless steel, aluminum and sheet moulding
Inspiration for design: skis cutting through snow
Unique feature: the flame will not burn from a cauldron but from a vertical slice in the side of the torch
- 95 per cent of the torch is composed of materials and technology made or designed in Canada
- 12,000 torches will be built, one for every torch bearer
Source: The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games
