page_title: Torch
section_title: Olympics
hierarchical_section_title: Torch / Uses / Olympics
caption_attribution_description: English: Chinese gymnast Li Ning, who won three gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, carries the Olympic Torch while descending from the rafters after running around the upper rim of the Bird's Nest National Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing on August 8, 2008.
context_page_description: A torch is a stick with combustible material at one end, which is ignited and used as a light source. Torches have been used throughout history, and are still used in processions, symbolic and religious events, and in juggling entertainment. In some countries "torch" in modern usage is the term for a battery-operated portable light.
context_section_description: A torch carried in relay by runners is used to light the Olympic flame which burns without interruption until the end of the Games. These torches and the relay tradition were introduced in the 1936 Summer Olympics by Carl Diem, the chairman of the event because during the duration of the Ancient Olympic Games in Olympia, a sacred flame burnt inside of the temple of Hera, kept in custody by her priestess.
caption: Li Ning lighting the torch at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
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