This is what Tokyo 2020 looks like from the air 2:26
(CNN) -
The Olympic torch relay has been downgraded for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, with Covid-19 making the flame's traditionally public journey from Olympia, Greece, a largely private affair.
While past Olympics have seen the torch carried under the sea by a female diver or flying through the air in the hands of a ski jumper, this year's relay was made up of isolated ceremonies around Japan before the opening ceremony of the Friday.
However, many of the rituals were preserved.
As always, the flame was first brought to life at Olympia using sunlight reflected off a parabolic mirror, representing the power of the sun god Apollo.
Since March, he has made his way to Tokyo by plane and road (though the camel or parachute rides of the adventurous relays of the past have not been seen).
The torch for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games features a sakura pink design with five flames turning into one.
Credit: Charly Triballeau / AFP / Getty Images
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In a typical year, thousands of runners passed the torch from hand to hand, often in large crowds, until it reached the main stadium.
And although this relay has largely been without spectators, the fate of the flame remains the same: the Olympic cauldron, which remains lit for the duration of the Games.
Over the decades, the appearance of the torch has become an important part of the custom.
Often a visual representation of the host country, recent designs have incorporated the elegant architecture of the Sydney Opera House (in 2000);
a folkloric phoenix feather, an omen of good fortune in Russia (2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi);
and the natural beauty of the Brazilian landscape (Rio 2016).
The torches of the past have traveled under the sea, by parachute and by camel.
Credit: Steve Nutt / Allsport / Getty Images
This year's "sakura pink" torch has a cherry blossom shape that fuses five individual flames into one.
It was created by designer Tokujin Yoshioka, who said by email that it is a symbol of hope and "emotional recovery" from the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan a decade ago.
The body of the torch is made in part from recycled aluminum used in shelters that housed survivors after the disaster.
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Minute by minute: The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are here
A dark story
Although the Olympic flame has ancient roots, the relay itself is a relatively modern affair.
"There was no torch relay, as we know it, for the ancient games (though) there might have been an altar on fire," said sports historian and author of "
The Story of the Olympic Torch
,
"
Philip Barker, in a video interview.
In fact, this symbol of international unity was born out of nationalism - it took place in Nazi Germany during the 1936 Summer Games.
Conceived by the main organizer of the Berlin Olympics, Carl Diem, the first relay traveled by land from Olympia to the German capital via Athens, Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna and Prague.
Over the course of 12 days, the torch was passed, hand in hand, for almost 3,000 km.
The first torch relay was held in Berlin in 1936 under Nazi rule.
Credit: Allsport / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
"It really captured the imagination," Barker said.
"In Greece it was said that nobody slept when the torch passed, because it passed all night, which does not happen today."
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The event was designed to showcase the growing power of Nazi Germany, and a young blond-haired runner, Fritz Schilgen, was selected as the last torchbearer for his Aryan appearance.
Footage from the event was also heavily orchestrated, with relay parts staged and filmed again after the Games for the 1938 propaganda film "Olympia."
"There was (was) a lot of mythology, even from the beginning," Barker said.
After a hiatus in the WWII Games, the torch relay may not have continued.
But the organizers of the first postwar Olympic Games, in London, resurrected the event, securing its place as an ongoing tradition.
"People came to see him at 2am, 3am in the morning. It was a curiosity," Barker said of the 1948 relay. "When you consider that England was still rationing (food and supplies) at the time, to have the Olympics, and to have something unusual like this, it was a real blessing. It really lifted people's spirits. "
A unifying spirit
Over time, the dark history of the origin of the relay has been erased from memory, as each new host city makes it its own.
The routes have taken anywhere from days to months to complete, with backup flames (also from the original source at Olympia) now being kept in miners' lamps and carried along with the torch.
Sometimes plans are derailed by more than a quenched flame: During the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games, a typhoon damaged the torch-carrying aircraft and a backup aircraft was called in while a second flame was sent to retrieve the torch. lost time.
Torch designs, usually selected by the host city organizing committee, have also evolved and are now generally sourced from esteemed designers and artists.
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Over the decades, the torch has become an important symbol of unity and identity.
Credit: Quinn Rooney / Getty Images
"It's also a way of showing a national identity: 'This is our torch,'" Barker said.
Some designs have echoed antiquity, such as the classic 1960 Rome design. Others have taken creative risks, such as Lillehammer's sleek birch wood handle and aluminum blade for the 1994 Winter Olympics, or London's perforated gold design in 2012 that "became known as the cheese grater," Barker said.
PHOTOS |
Opening ceremony and the rest of the Olympic day in Tokyo 2020
In this unusual Olympic year, Yoshioka's vase of cherry blossoms and her motto "Hope lights our way" seem especially timely.
The five flames unite, and each petal symbolizes "a wish for peace and for the world to come together as one," he said.
The designer hopes that the flame can be "a beacon of hope for all."
The flame has that kind of power, said Barker, who described the Olympics as a unifying force in the world, and the torch relay as an emblem of it.
"It has that feeling of symbolism and of connecting people," he said.
Olympic torch