The Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch offers Australians a unique opportunity to "share the spirit" of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

The Torch will be ignited on 12 May 2000 at a special ceremony in Olympia, Greece, home of the original Olympic Games. From this flame the Olympic Torch and back up safety lanterns are lit, then carried by Torchbearers to Athens and from there to the host city of the Games, Sydney. Any Torch that goes out anywhere on the journey is re-ignited from one of the backup safety lanterns.

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch will spend seventeen days visiting the Olympic nations in Oceania & Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Solomon islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand.

The Olympic Flame will arrive in Australia on 8 June 2000 and over the next one hundred days the torch will visit all states and territories, journeying within one hours drive of 85% of Australia's population.

The Torch will travel by various forms of transport including train, bicycle, stock horse, tram, road train, rowing boat, ferry, solar vehicle, wave piercer and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Together with the many community celebrations, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch Relay will allow millions of people a chance to be directly involved with the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

There will be 10,000 Torchbearers throughout Australia with each torchbearer carrying the flame up to one kilometer with an average of 500m. Included in the 10,000 will be Olympians, community representatives and a wide cross section of people from all walks of life.

Running alongside the Torchbearers will be 2,500 escort runners during the longest and most comprehensive of any Torch Relay since the first one in 1936.

Design

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch was designed by Blue Sky Design of Paddington in Sydney, an industrial design company specialising in consumer goods.

The form of torch represents optimism and a celebration of Sydney. The design has metaphoric layers of fire, water and earth. The high tech construction is inspired by the Opera House sails with the subtle curve of an aboriginal boomerang.

Manufacture

The manufacture and engineering of the torch is done by a Sydney based company G.A &L Harrington Pty Ltd, which specialises in metal forming and tool making. Harrington is the team leader, taking the Blue Sky design and the fuel system and engineering all the parts that make the torch function.

A team from Fuel and Combustion Technology Australia and the Department of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering at Adelaide University undertook research for the fuel and flame.

This team developed the combustion, flame stability and fuel composition with a strong emphasis on environmental issues as advised by RMIT.

Specification

The torch is made up of three layers. The inner layer is stainless steel and contains the fuel system which includes the combustor to keep the flame alight. The middle, blue, layer is anodised aluminium which contains the fuel canister. The outer layer, which encases the other two leaves, is made of aluminium with a specially textured finish.

The weight of the torch is a little over 1kg and the flame will burn for 20 minutes. The fuel for the torch is a mixture of propane and butane which is environmentally friendly with lower carbon emissions and better luminosity for less fuel consumed. The lower storage pressure for this gas mixture allows the use of a standard pressure pack container that can be removed so both gas containers can be recycled.

The flame has been tested to stay alight in winds up to 65 kilometres per hour and in tropical downpour. The Torch has a built in safety system, which self extinguishes after ten seconds if it is left lying on the ground or inverted.