2010 Summer Youth Olympics torch relay domestic leg. A specially chartered Gulfstream G550 (tail no. HB-JEV) was chartered to bring the flame on its journey around the world. The G550 was painted with a special livery for this purpose. For the domestic leg, members of the public were invited to sign up to be one of the 2400 torchbearers. A large number of torchbearers were youths, with the youngest being just 11 years old and the oldest, an ex-Olympian, being 82 years of age. In Olympic tradition, the flame was lit at the ancient site of the first Olympic Games in Olympia, Greece. The ceremony was
Running in Ancient Greece (Flaceliere 106). In the Olympics, there was a race in armor, the "Hoplitodromos", which reflected the games' origins as a means of training for warfare. The torch-relay race was added to entertain the crowds. This event was run the night before the ancient Olympic Games began (Olympic Sports - Foot Races). Today we honor this tradition with the Olympic torch. One event that was not ever in the ancient Olympic Games is the marathon. What is called a marathon today gets its name from the distance covered by the runner Pheidippides over the course of three to four days from