Memories of the Winter Olympic Flame

Memories of the Winter Olympic Flame

by Philip Barker

When the Flame for Milano Cortina 2026 is lit on Wednesday (November 26) by High Priestess Mary Mina, it will set in motion the final approach to the third Winter Olympics on Italian soil.

Set against the dark winter days, the Olympic Flame might even be considered a more potent symbol, yet it was not until 1952 that a Winter Torch Relay was organised.

Before the second world war, a Flame had burned at Garmisch-Partenkirchen during the 1936 Winter Olympics. A Torch Relay had also been planned as part of a grand skiing festival as part of the 1940 Winter Olympics. They never took place because of the conflict.

In 1952, the Winter Games were held in Oslo. There was at least a Relay, however the flame was not lit in Olympia, but in the Norwegian hamlet of Morgedal, at the home of Sondre Norheim, considered the father of modern skiing.

“It was specifically stressed that this was no Olympic Flame but a torch greeting carried from the cradle of modern skiing, a natural form of greeting at that,” said Norwegian officials. “The purpose of the Relay was to mark a definite and festive introduction to the Games.’’

A total of 94 Torchbearers were chosen for a Relay covering some 312 kilometres, but their names were not widely publicised. “This anonymity was a silent tribute to skiing and all other Olympic winter sports,” it was reported at the time.

It was to be one of the shorter Torch Relays, for it began only two days before the Opening Ceremony.

At the marathon gate of Oslo’s Bislett Stadium, the final Torchbearer was Eigil Nansen, grandson of the great explorer Fridtjof Nansen. After a lap of the arena, he unfastened his skis and ran up to light the cauldron.

The 1956 Relay was another purely domestic affair. A Flame was kindled at the Capitole in Rome. 1952 discus gold medallist Adolfo Consolini was the first Torchbearer. He ran across the Piazza Campidoglio and down the steps to where race walk champion Pino Dordoni was waiting.

He held the Flame aloft in an open car which made its to the airport with an escort of Vespas.

When the Flame arrived in Venice, it was carried by World Roller Skating Champion Alberta Vianello, possibly the first woman to officially carry the Flame at an Olympics.

The convoy headed into the mountains where it was carried from Zuel to the Aosta refuge by Italian Alpine troops.

On the eve of the Games, it was kept in the Chapel Madonna degli Alpini.

The Opening Ceremony was scheduled to take place the following morning and a guard of honour tended the Flame overnight. Local police chief Lorenzo Capello passed the Flame to Zeno Colò, 1952 downhill gold medallist.

“His progress was marked for the whole valley to see, by a series of red, white, and green rockets, fired as he passed,” noted the Official Report of the Games.

Arriving in Cortina, spectators formed an avenue as the Flame was taken on by speedskater Guido Caroli for the grand entry to the stadium .Unfortunately, as he skated around, he tripped on a frozen television wire. Although he did not allow the Flame to go out, he was inconsolable afterwards. “I feel so ashamed,” he told reporters following the mishap.

The 1960 Winter Olympics were the first to feature a Relay in the United States. The Torches bore the inscription “Olympia to Squaw Valley” but despite appearances, the Flame was not lit at the ancient site.

“The final leg of the Torch’s spectacular round the world journey will include a helicopter ride to the mountains surrounding Squaw Valley,” organisers had boasted but they did not inform the Hellenic Olympic Committee of their wishes until it was too late to make arrangements for a Flame Lighting in Olympia.

Swiss reporter Frederic Schattler observed sarcastically: “It is infinitely easier to order the sun to rise in Walt Disney’s films than to make the sun shine in Olympia during the winter.”

Instead the Flame was once again kindled in Morgedal and then flown from Oslo to Los Angeles from where it travelled across California and Nevada to the Games site. ISOH members will be able to read a detailed account of the 1960 Relay in the next issue of the Journal of Olympic History, (JOH 3 2025) to be published soon.

In 1964, the Winter Flame was lit in Olympia for the first time. The choreography of the Ceremony was placed in the hands of legendary Greek dancer Maria Horss beginning an association with the Ceremony of over 30 years. When Innsbruck staged the Games a second time 12 years later, a second cauldron was erected alongside the first. A third cauldron was added for the 2012 Youth Olympics.

Tradition dictates that the Flame must be lit from the rays of the sun. For the Winter Games there is usually a greater likelihood of bad weather preventing this.

In 1968, the Flame Ceremony was conducted indoors with a backdrop of the statues at the Museum of the Olympic Games,

The weather was equally poor in 1998 and when the Flame was lit for Torino 2006, the last Games on Italian soil, 20 years ago.

These were the last at which the first Relay runner received the Flame at the Coubertin Grove rather than in the ancient stadium.

For next week, Alpine Skier AJ Ginnis has been named as the first bearer in a lengthy journey around Greece before the official handover to Milano Cortina on the morning of December 4. By that evening the Flame will be in the eternal city of Rome, all set for a 63-day journey across Italy.

It will certainly be one of the most expansive Relay for a Winter Games — in stark contrast to the last Winter Olympic Torch Relay four years ago for Beijing 2022.

On that occasion, the runners carried the Flame for only a very short time in Olympia. This was done ostensibly as a precaution against COVID-19.

There had been demonstrations by human rights groups against the policies of the Chinese government inside the precincts of the ancient site as the Flame was lit. The handover itself was very low key.

When the Flame reached China, the Relay was conducted under a “Closed Loop System” for three days.

Organisers nominated cross country skier Dilnigar Ilhamjan, a member of the Uyghur minority as one two final Torchbearers to light the micro flame.

The decision caused controversy because in the build up to the Games human rights groups had been critical of Chinese government policy towards the Uyghur community.

Ceremony director Zhang Ximou had promised a Flame that was “extraordinary.”  The micro-Flame burned for the duration of the Games in a replica snowflake receptacle outside the stadium close to the Medals Plaza. It was also so small when displayed that many incorrectly believed that it had gone out.

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