The opening of the Games – Beyond the Games

In Ancient Olympia, sacred fires were kept burning throughout the Games at the temples of the gods Zeus and his wife Hera, as well at the event sites. The modern ritual of relaying the torch from Greece to the host country only started in 1936, at the Berlin Games in Germany. Since then, some forty flames have been carried around the world by a variety of sometimes unexpected means of transport: pack animals, skiing, swimming, parachute, snowmobile, plane, and even by drone!

In 1976, Montreal introduced its own innovation: the Olympic flame was transferred electronically, by satellite, no less! When the signal arrived, it activated a laser beam to light the urn in Ottawa. The flame was then relayed by a series of torchbearers to Montreal, where two urns were lit: one at the top of Mount Royal (for one night only), then at the Olympic Stadium, where the flame burned for the duration of the Games.

A crowd waiting for the Olympic flame, July 16, 1976

It is dark and the mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau, is making a speech at the foot of the Olympic flame burning in a tall metal cauldron. The Mount Royal cross rises up behind it. — Jean Drapeau and the Olympic flame on the summit of Mount Royal, July 16, 1976

Stéphane Préfontaine and Sandra Henderson are seen from the back, running on the track in the Montreal Olympic Stadium. Wearing white shorts and t-shirts, the two young athletes are both holding the red handle of a flaming torch, which burns from black part on the top. — Arrival of the flame in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, July 17, 1976

Traditionally, the cauldron was lit during the opening ceremony by an Olympic gold medallist. In Montreal, however, the organizers decided to put youth in the spotlight instead.

On July 17, Sandra Henderson, a 16-year-old English-Canadian gymnast, and Stéphane Préfontaine, a 15-year-old French-Canadian runner, together lit the Olympic cauldron. It was a moment that neither one would ever forget!

The gesture was designed to reflect the country’s optimism, openness and two-sided nature. Although this vision reflected the thinking of the time, it completely ignored the presence and history of Indigenous peoples, who had occupied the land long before the two so-called “founding” nations.

The original Olympic cauldron now sits on the corner of Sherbrooke Street and Pie-IX Boulevard. Every year on July 17, and during every Summer Olympic Games, the flame is lit to commemorate this defining moment in Montreal’s history.

Route of the Olympic Flame, 1975

Olympic torch, olive oil and BIXI?!

What do these three things have in common? Answer: Michel Dallaire, the industrial designer who created the torch for the Montreal Games and later designed the iconic BIXI bike.

Dallaire’s inspiration for the shape of the torch were the dried cattails he used to burn in his youth. As for the fuel, he had noticed that the torches used in preceding Olympics had a blue flame, which was not visible against the sky and often burned the athletes carrying the torch. He felt he had to find something better. He remembered seeing olive oil, when used to make french fries, created a striking orange flame. However, olive oil is slow to ignite. So Dallaire worked with a colleague who was a chemist at Université de Montréal, and found other substances to add to the olive oil.

Here’s the secret recipe: 50% olive oil, 20% heptane and 30% nitropropane!

Outside, Michel Dallaire is sitting on a public bench. — **Michel Dallaire discusses the making of the Olympic torch**. Video available with transcriptions and subtitles.

A handy cigarette lighter

When heavy rain extinguished the Olympic flame during the Games, a well-meaning but misinformed employee relit the cauldron—with a cigarette lighter! Officials then had to put out this flame and relight it using a backup source containing the original sacred flame from Olympia.