2000 Summer Olympics torch relay 2000 Summer Olympics torch relay The 2000 Summer Olympics torch relay was the transferral of the Olympic Flame to Sydney, Australia that built up to the 2000 Summer Olympics. The torch travelled to various island nations as part of a tour of Oceania before beginning an extensive journey around Australia. For the first time the Flame was taken underwater, with a special flare-like torch taken on a dive down to the Great Barrier Reef. At the opening ceremony the cauldron was lit by Aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman. A History of the Olympic Torch Relay has been written by Janet Cahill
Olympic flame the United States and Ireland, respectively). The London 2012 torch travelled 8,000 miles across the UK. The Rio 2016 torch travelled 12,000 miles across Brazil. There have been protests against Olympic torch relays since the they were first introduced. In 1936, there were minor protests against the torch relay to Nazi Germany in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, which were suppressed by the local security forces. In the 1956 Melbourne Games in Australia, local veterinary student Barry Larkin protested against the relay when he tricked onlookers by carrying a fake flame, consisting of a pair of underpants set on fire in a