Lillehammer 1994The Torch

Route Design and Details

After the lighting ceremony in Olympia, the flame was flown to various German cities: Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg, Esslingen, Karlsruhe, Düsseldorf, Winterberg, Herne, Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, Grefrath and Hamburg. It also went to Cologne University, where a cauldron was lit in honour of Carl Diem, the Secretary General of the 1936 Games Organising Committee and the initiator of the torch relay. The journey continued via Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo and, finally, Lillehammer.

At the Opening Ceremony, Stein Gruben astounded those watching by jumping from the ski jump while holding the torch. He took the place of the intended torchbearer Ole Gunnar Fidjestol, who had injured himself during rehearsals.

Map of the Route

Facts and Figures

Start date: 16 January 1994, Olympia (Greece)

End date: 12 February 1994, Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena, Lillehammer (Norway)

First torchbearer: None in Greece

Last torchbearer: Crown Prince Haakon Magnus

Number of torchbearers: -

Recruitment of torchbearers: -

Distance: ~6,000km for the official relay (from Olympia)

Countries visited: Greece, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway

Torch Details

Description: The burner featured the inscription “The XVII OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES LILLEHAMMER 1994” and the Games emblem. The sports pictograms appeared on the part in copper, while the upper part in aluminium was the recipient for the pyrotechnic system.

The torch consisted of a long wooden handle and a metal blade. The birchwood handle symbolised the traditional side of Norway; the polished aluminium of the blade reflected its industrial modernity and technology. The supple elongated shape and considerable length of the torch were chosen with a view to forming a harmonious whole with the person carrying it.

Colour: Brown, silver and bronze

Length: 152cm

Composition: Wood, iron and copper

Fuel: Paraffin-based fuel. Burning time of between 30 and 40 minutes.

Designer / Manufacturer: André Steenbuch Marandon, Paal Christian Kahrs / Paal J. Kahrs Arkitekter AS, Statoil

Did You Know?

For the first time in Olympic history, the torch was passed between two parachutists, above the German town of Grefrath.

A “non-Olympic” relay took place over 75 days in Norway. As for the editions in Oslo in 1952 and Squaw Valley in 1960, a flame was lit at Morgedal, on 27 November 1993. Princess Martha Louise was the first torchbearer. Of a total distance of 12,000km, 8,000 were on land, and the torch was transported by runners over roughly 6,500km. The flame was transported by plane for 4,000km of the remaining distance, to cross the sea and fjords, and to reach the Svalbard archipelago in particular. When running with the torch was impossible, other means of transport used by the postal service at different times in history were employed. To conclude, the flame from Morgedal was used to light the cauldron from the 1952 Winter Games in Oslo, set up in the main street of Lillehammer, the Storgata, while the Olympic flame lit the cauldron in the Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena.