Fire has been a symbol of the Olympic Games since ancient times. Every four years, before the athletes gather for the games, the emblematic torch makes a long journey to the new host city from the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens—the site of the first modern Olympic games where the tradition began more than a hundred years ago.
Winning the bid to host the Olympics brings honour with considerable cost. Many host cities prepare for the influx of athletes and Olympic-sized crowds by completely overhauling infrastructure and hastily constructing mega-projects, like new sports arenas, that later get demolished or forgotten. Then there's Athens, every day still using the Panathenaic Stadium, built outside the former city walls on soil that stretches back 2,500 years. This white horseshoe stadium stands triumphantly under the shadow of the Acropolis and remains the world's only arena made completely from marble.
Read Full Article »