Olympic Facts

Australian swimmer Grant Hackett will compete in an open-water 10 kilometre race in Melbourne this weekend after setting his sights on taking part in the inaugural event at next year's Olympics.

The Olympic FlameThe Olympic flame is a practice continued from the ancient Olympic Games. In Olympia (Greece), a flame was ignited by the sun and then kept burning until the closing of the Olympic Games. The flame first appeared in the modern Olympics at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. The flame itself represents a number of things, including purity and the endeavor for perfection. In 1936, the chairman of the organizing committee for the 1936
Olympic Games, Carl Diem, suggested what is now the modern Olympic Torch relay.