VANCOUVER—The Vancouver Olympics Organizing Committee (VANOC) disclosed details of its 45,000-kilometre Olympic torch relay route on Friday in West Vancouver.
The torch’s 106-day journey is designed to reach millions of Canadians from coast to coast to coast in the countdown to the 2010 Winter Games.
Following a ceremonial lighting of the Olympic Flame in Olympia, Greece, the torch will begin its travels Victoria on Oct. 30, 2009, marking the launch of what VANOC says is the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history.
Presented by Coca-Cola and RBC, the torch relay will interweave the nation on its trek through every province and territory, reaching more than 90 per cent of the Canadian population within a one-hour drive.
“The Olympic Flame is a powerful symbol of the hope, optimism and pride Canadians feel as we count down to hosting the world for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” said Premier Gordon Campbell in a press release.
The flame will head north to Alert, Nunavut, the world’s northernmost permanently inhabited point, becoming the first Olympic torch to travel within 900 kilometres of the North Pole.
The arrival of the torch will be celebrated in over 1,000 communities, including historic Cape Spear in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and past Olympic host cities Calgary and Montréal.
“With Glowing Hearts we will share the Olympic Flame with young and old, northern and southern, eastern and western and everyone in between — no one left out. A truly unifying Canadian celebration,” said VANOC chief executive officer John Furlong.
In all, the torch will travel 26,000 kilometres on land, 18,000 kilometres by air, and 1,000 kilometres by water.
After crossing the country, the flame will arrive back in Vancouver in time to light the Olympic Cauldron on February 12 in the opening ceremony at B.C. Place Stadium before a worldwide audience of billions, signaling the start of XXI Winter Olympics.
The Olympic Torch Relay, initially part of the Nazi regime’s 1936 Olympics in Germany, stirred controversy and protests from various groups internationally in the run-up to the Beijing summer Olympics in August.
VANOC will not have an international leg for the 2010 relay, a decision the committee said had nothing to do with the disruptions during the Beijing relay. However, some First Nations groups are expected to protest during the 2010 Games.
London may not have an international torch relay for the 2012 summer Olympics either. Starting Nov. 24, a four-day official debriefing of the Beijing Games will be held in London by the International Olympic Committee.
The discussion regarding lessons learned from the Beijing Games will be joined by 400 senior figures including IOC chiefs and organizers of the next three Games: Vancouver 2010, London 2012, and Sochi, Russia 2014, as well as representatives from the four 2016 bidding cities.
Canadians interested in becoming one of the 12,000 torchbearers for the 2010 Winter Olympics Torch Relay can apply at iCoke.ca, sogoactive.com, or rbc.com/carrythetorch.
