Olympic flame Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The idea for the Olympic flame was derived from ancient Greece, where a sacred fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics on the altar of the sanctuary of Hestia. In Ancient Greek mythology, fire had divine connotations — it was thought to have been stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Sacred fires were present at many ancient Greek sanctuaries, including those at Olympia. Every four years, when Zeus was honoured at the Olympic Games, additional fires were lit at his temple and that of his wife, Hera. The modern Olympic flame is
2010 Summer Youth Olympics torch relay Kuan Yew lit the cauldron at Marina Bay. However, the Youth Olympic flame was to last till the closing ceremony of the games. Although the IOC had scrapped any further international legs of the Olympic torch relay due to problems encountered during the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay, the Executive Board approved an exception for Singapore. The plan however was different from the traditional Olympics; the flame was to visit one city from each continent, where community celebrations would take place. The five cities, dubbed the "celebration cities", selected for the torch relay were Berlin, Germany; Dakar, Senegal; Mexico City,