News Archive

After an absence of 68 years, the Olympic flame finally returned to Berlin,

scene of the 1936 Olympic Games. It moved everyone in the truest sense of the

word: the runners permitted to bear the torch, their families and the

spectators who shared in this demonstration of peaceful international sporting

friendship in the run-up to the 28th Summer Olympics in Athens (13–29

August).

align="right" />Many of the relay runners were seasoned Olympic medal winners.

As cool-headed as they may have been beforehand, even they had butterflies in

their stomach just before it was their turn – and some even forgot what

they were supposed to do during the pass-over.

It wasn’t much different for the runners selected by sponsors Samsung

and Coca Cola in the category “man and woman on the street”. At any

rate, the lavatories on the coaches dropping off the runners at their starting

points seemed to be constantly engaged!

Although they only had to run 400 metres, afterwards many of the

runners’ throats were as parched as if they’d just done an

hour’s hard training!

The Olympic torch’s world tour began in Athens on 25 March

2004

Visiting all five continents (including South America and Africa), this

34-city, 27-country tour is being shared by over 11,000 torch-bearers. In fact

this is the farthest the torch has ever travelled in Olympic history. The flame

was brought from Munich (the host of the 1972 Olympics) to Berlin, and a day

later continued its journey to Stockholm, scene of the Games in 1912.

The torch

Made of metal and olive wood, the torch weighs 700g and is 68cm long. Its

design is based on an olive branch, a sacred item in Athens of old and nowadays

a symbol of peace, and so the torch is spreading the Olympic message all over

the world. The symbol of the Olympic Games is the kotino or olive branch woven

into a wreath, which was the trophy awarded to Olympic champions in ancient

Greece.

The flame arrived at Tegel Airport in Berlin from Munich on board two Boeing

747s accompanied by a large retinue. Gymnastics world champion Eberhard Gienger

transported the flame in a spectacular parachute jump into Berlin’s

Olympic Stadium, where it was received by Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit.

align="left" />Other members of the reception committee included Mayor of

Athens Dora Bakoyiannis, German Minister of the Interior Secretary Otto Schily,

DSB (German Sports Federation) President Manfred von Richthofen, NOC President

Dr Klaus Steinbach, IOC Vice President Thomas Bach – and the 94-year-old

Siegfried Eifrig, who back in 1936 was the final runner in the torch relay from

Athens and bore the torch along the avenue Unter den Linden to Lustgarten. In

fact it was at the 1936 Berlin Olympics that the tradition of the Olympic torch

relay was introduced.

Kathrin Boron, the most successful female rower in the world, was the first

of the 132 runners to carry the Olympic flame in the Berlin leg.

All change at the Marriott

The day before, the torchbearers had been kitted out at Berlin’s Hotel

Marriott. The runners were given their official clothing comprising shorts,

running top, socks and sweatband. And they were also presented with a

certificate of participation in the Athens 2004 Olympic Torch Relay signed by

Jacques Rogge, the President of the IOC, and Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the

President of the Athens 2004 Organising Committee.

Many of the runners all but disappeared in their XL and even XXL gear, the

shorts sometimes reaching right down to their knees. On the big day, the

runners were given brief instructions on details such as how to pass on the

torch and how long they had to wait (5 seconds) until the flame successfully

caught.

align="right" />The participants were then taken by coach to their individual

starting points. Although most of the runners didn’t know each other

personally, their faces were certainly familiar as they suddenly realised they

were sitting next to, say, Wolfgang Behrendt, the boxing champion at the 1956

Melbourne Olympics, or Dr Motte, the famous founder of Berlin’s Love

Parade techno festival. Of course, they all took advantage of the bus ride to

introduce themselves.

Prof Wolfgang Maennig, Olympic champion in the German rowing eight, had to

perform a double stint by running 800m as his ‘forerunner’ had

disappeared. Peter Hanisch, the president of the Berlin Sports Federation, also

took part from the word go at the Olympic Stadium as an escort runner. At the

Reichstag and the adjacent Federal Chancellery, the flame passed between

renowned canoeist and Olympic champion several times over Birgit Fischer and

Olympic speed skating champion Claudia Pechstein.

The photographers and enthusiastic spectators were out in force here, just

as they were for boxer Henry Maske on Alexanderplatz, Katharina Witt on

Potsdamer Platz, and IOC vice president Thomas Bach at the corner of Unter den

Linden and Wilhelmstrasse – so much so that it was all but impossible for

the escorts to get through. Samsung’s and Coca Cola’s armies of

volunteers had already distributed flags as souvenirs among the spectators.

Bernd Hübner, who has already run the real,- BERLIN MARATHON 30 times,

had the honour of bearing the torch along Badensche Strasse, sharing it with

his escort runner and cheered on by his roaring fans. Bernd Hübner summed

up the mood of all the participants:

“It was a dream”

“It was a great moment for me to be able to take part and it passed by

all too quickly. It was a dream I would have loved to go on dreaming.”

What more can be said?!

Parts of the blue line marking the route of last year’s real,- BERLIN

MARATHON could still be seen – for example when Horst Milde (former Race

Director) sped along Alt-Moabit into Invalidenstrasse. He’d been handed

the flame by the German junior épée fencing champion Toni Kneist

from Schwedt, who had only learned the previous evening that he’d been

selected as one of the lucky torchbearers. Horst Milde then fittingly passed on

the flame to marathon runner Beatrice Karanassios. Ms Karanassios successfully

participated in the real,- BERLIN MARATHON a number of times, speaks Greek, is

married to a Greek – and will be working in an honorary capacity at the

Olympic Games in Athens.

Finally it was time for marathon route scout John Kunkeler to put in an

appearance as the escort runner with Thomas Bach, the final

runner

The 132nd and last runner to reach the finish at Pariser Platz was IOC Vice

President Thomas Bach, who arrived precisely as the Athenian Mayor Dora

Bakoyiannis – speaking outstanding German – was inviting the world

to Athens. Thomas Bach then used the flame to ignite the cauldron on the stage

in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

The show was hosted by Rudi Cerne, who endeavoured to elicit from Mayor

Klaus Wowereit whether Berlin would be applying to stage the Olympics. The

President of Samsung, the torch relay’s sponsor, made special mention in

his address of the world record set at last year’s real,- BERLIN

MARATHON.

At that point things came full circle when 1936 torch relay runner Siegfried

Eifrig (introduced to the crowd by Rudio Cerne as “Fritz” Eifrig)

was invited onstage. He was unable to conceal his emotion when he made a point

of stressing that back then he had simply been representing his team,

Charlottenburg Sports Club.

Siegfried Eifrig was followed by a varied stage programme, many of the huge

crowd staying until the end to watch the live transmission of the EURO 2004

semi-final clash between the Portuguese and Dutch soccer teams.

The official farewell ceremony for the Olympic flame was held on the

premises of Dresdner Bank as the flame set off for the next leg of its tour in

Stockholm.

The Olympics in Berlin again?

The end of a great day for global Olympic sport drew to a close. The

enthusiasm shown by the people of Berlin for sport and the Olympic flame

demonstrated that they had been truly infected by the enthusiasm of Athens

– and perhaps inspired to hold the Olympics in Berlin again?!

Horst Milde, Bernd Hübner and John Kunkeler