The London Organising Committee of Olympic and Paralympic Games has unveiled the prototype for the 2012 Olympic Torch, which will be carried on a 70-day, 8,000-mile journey from Lands End to the Outer Hebrides and back, by 8,000 torchbearers.
It was designed by Londoners Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, who won the competitive tender in February this year.
The torch’s triangular shape represents both the three words of the Olympic motto – faster, higher, and stronger – and the three occasions on which the UK has hosted the Olympic Games – in 1908, 1948 and now in 2012. It has been likened to a cheese grater or a golden wastepaper basket, because it is perforated by 8,000 circles representing the 8,000 British men, women and children who will carry the Olympic flame around the country. The holes also have a practical application – they help ensure that heat dissipates quickly as well as reducing the torch’s overall weight.
The Games’ organisers admitted that they have been unable to find a low-carbon solution for flame, as they had promised to do in 2007.
