One of the symbols of the Olympic Games is fire. It should burn in a special container - "bowl" - at the stadium, where most of the competition takes place. And when the Olympics are over, the fire goes out in order to flare up again in four years, but in another city. This is a beautiful, solemn ceremony.
The Olympic Games were born in ancient Greece. Myths say that for a long time people were absolutely helpless in front of the forces of nature. Without fire, they could neither heat their home, nor protect themselves from large predators, nor cook hot food. And the fire was on the sacred Mount Olympus, where the gods lived, headed by the supreme god - Zeus. But the celestials were not at all going to share this gift with pitiful mortals. And then one day the titan Prometheus, wanting to help people, stole fire and brought it to earth. The enraged Zeus subjected Prometheus to a terrible punishment: the titan was chained to a rock in the distant mountains, where every morning an eagle flew in pecked at his liver. Only many years later, Prometheus was released.
The grateful Greeks preserved the titan's feat in their memory. Fire has become for them a kind of spiritualized symbol. He reminded people of the nobility and torment of Prometheus. Thus, lighting a fire before the start of any important events, they bowed before his memory. In addition, the magical properties of purification were attributed to fire. Therefore, igniting it, the organizers of sports, especially such important ones as the Olympic Games, pursued a double goal. Firstly, they paid tribute to the memory of Prometheus, and secondly, they hoped that all participants and spectators would be "cleansed" of bad thoughts and intentions, and the competition would not be overshadowed by any quarrels or enmity.
When, thanks to Baron Pierre de Coubertin and his associates, the Olympic Games were revived, the tradition of lighting a fire was revived with them. It first broke out at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, and during the Berlin Olympics in 1936, the burning torch was delivered to the stadium using a relay race. Since then, this is how the Olympic flame arrives at the stadium, where the bowl should light up. To take part in such a relay is considered an honor, and to be at the very last stage, that is, to light a fire with a torch with your own hands, is a great honor, which only the most honored athletes are awarded.
