The 1952 Summer Olympics torch relay was the symbolic transport of the

Olympic flame The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olymp ...

from Olympia, Greece, to the venue of the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, where it featured as part of the opening ceremony.

Relay elements

Flame

The 1952 Olympic flame was lit at a ceremony using the sun's rays in Olympia, from where it started its journey on 25 June. On 6 July, a second flame was lit on top of the Taivaskero peak of

Pallastunturi Pallastunturi is a group of seven fells in the municipalities of Muonio and Enontekiö in Lapland, Finland. The highest peak is Taivaskero, which is also highest peak of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park and whole Lapland excluding Käsivarsi ar ...

fell in the

Finnish Lapland Lapland ( fi, Lappi ; se, Lappi; smn, Laapi; sv, Lappland; la, Lapponia, links=no) is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the region of North O ...

. The intention had been to ignite it with the rays of the

midnight sun The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, ...

, but due to overcast conditions that night some additional 'tricks' were required. This 'Midnight Sun Torch' was carried south to the city of

Tornio Tornio (; sv, Torneå; sme, Duortnus ; smn, Tuárnus) is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is ...

near the Swedish border, where it met the one from Olympia, the latter having meanwhile been carried north the length of Sweden. The two flames were merged for the remainder of their journey.

Torch

Helsingin olympiakisojen 1952 soihtu (14224918099)

The torches were made of either solid

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

or silver-plated

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

, with a lacquered curly birch handle. The fuel was liquid gas contained in a cartridge which was quick and easy to replace. For this reason, only 22 torches were needed, as well as 1,600 fuel cartridges. Because of the small number produced, the 1952 torch is a rarity not found in many collections, and therefore highly collectable: at a 2011 auction in Paris, one was sold for the record price of €290,000 or nearly US$400,000. The torch was designed by Finnish graphic designer and visual artist and manufactured by the precious metals company .

Route

The flame was carried from Olympia to Athens, from where it was flown to Aalborg, Denmark, via two intermediary stops in West Germany (in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

). There were celebrations held at each stop of the journey. This was the first time the Olympic flame was flown out of Greece. Next, the flame traversed Denmark over land and water by different modes of transport, finishing with crossing the

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width ...

strait from

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

, Sweden. In Sweden the flame was carried overland via Gothenburg to Stockholm, where on 4 July it was kept burning overnight at the

1912 Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, b ...

stadium. Afterwards it continued its journey north, eventually leaving Sweden by crossing the northern land border to Finland, where it was united with the 'Midnight Torch' flame on 8 July. Over the next ten days the torch was carried south by 1,350 runners, arriving in Helsinki on the opening day of the games, 19 July. On its final stage through the city of Helsinki, the relay procession was fronted by a police car in radio contact with the organisers at the stadium, with the intention of adjusting the relay pace as needed. Consequently, the torch arrived at the stadium with perfect timing. The distances and methods of transport in each country were as follows: The total relay distance was , excluding the separate 'Midnight Sun Torch' relay from Pallastunturi to Tornio. The route took in the cities of, among others, Aalborg, Aarhus, Copenhagen, Malmö, Gothenburg, Stockholm,

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

, Tornio, Oulu,

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

and

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...

, before reaching Helsinki. A commemorative copper medal was given to each person carrying the torch on its journey.

Lighting of the cauldron

Paavo Nurmi enters the Olympic Stadium in 1952

The flame was brought to the Helsinki Olympic Stadium by the Finnish long-distance runner

Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi (; 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the 1920s. Nurmi set 22 official world ...

, himself a winner of multiple gold and silver medals at the 1920,

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

and

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

Olympics. He used the torch to light a temporary cauldron on the stadium field. The actual cauldron was situated on top of the stadium tower, above the ground. Four players from a Helsinki football club ran up the tower with the torch, passing it to another Finnish long-distance runner,

Hannes Kolehmainen Juho Pietari "Hannes" Kolehmainen (; 9 December 1889 – 11 January 1966) was a Finnish four-time Olympic Gold medalist and a world record holder in middle- and long-distance running. He was the first in a generation of great Finnish long-dista ...

, also a winner of multiple medals at the 1912 and 1920 Olympics, who finally lit the main cauldron.

References

External links

Helsinki 1952 Torch Relay
on the Olympic Games official site {{Olympic torch relays Olympic torch relays 1952 Summer Olympics 1952 in Finnish sport 1952 in Finland Olympic Games in Finland