This morning, St.Pancras station saw the unveiling of the torch for next years Olympic and Paralympic games.  The design was won by Shoreditch pair and internationally acclaimed designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.

It’s triangular in shape, to symbolise the three words of the Olympic motto;  ‘faster, higher, stronger’ and to represent the three years the games where held in the UK.

Weighing just less than a bag of sugar at 800 grams,  it’s one of the lightest ever used in the Olympics, designed light so that younger bearers can carry it with ease.

The gold coloured aluminium torch is punched with 8000 holes, one for every flame bearer.  The holes keep it light and cool, despite the fact that some claim the design to be not unlike a cheese grater…

The flame which arrives from Greece on May the 18^th next, will leave from Lands End and travel a course of 8000 miles before lighting the cauldron in London in July next year.

However, details for the plan for Olympic sustainability partner EDF energy to incorporate a green ‘carbon neutral’ flame never emerged, with a spokesperson for the company claiming they needed a fuel that could be ignited and extinguished quickly and safely.

Here’s a look at few torches of past games.

The flame was re-introduced at Berlin’s 1936 games to link the modern Olympics to the ancient, aimed at projecting the image of a modern Germany and a growing international influence.  Sydney’s 2000 Olympic torch took the flame to the extreme….bending the laws of science.  Take that EDF Energy,  and then there’s Beijing’s 2008 torch…  in London.

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