The History of Olympic Torch Reading Answers

Mar 28, 2025

The History of Olympic Torch Reading Answers contains 13 questions, and it is a topic belonging to the assessment system of IELTS general reading test. The History of Olympic Torch Reading Answers has to be answered within 20 minutes. In this IELTS reading section, there are questions like Choose one word only and choosing the correct heading for each paragraph. Also, The History of Olympic Torch Reading Answers contains all the information about the fascinating history of the Olympic Torch. To practice reading papers like that, the candidates can refer to IELTS Reading Practice test.

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Topic:

The History of Olympic Torch

A. Oddly, it all began with Hitler. For the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Adolf Hitler wanted to draw on the ancient Greeks to bring a certain authoritative, classical air to modern Germany. The head of the Reich sports office had just the plan to do it: hold an elaborate relay to bring a symbolic Olympic flame from Greece to the games. The original design by the German engineering giant, Krupp Company, was simple, with one primary function: to keep the flame burning. That's still the goal today. Since 1936, the torch has taken on a different form for every Olympic relay and undergone various transformative redesigns to make it more resilient and less likely to burn out. It's a strangely singular goal for an engineering project, but it allows for almost limitless creativity: The torch design can vary in almost every aspect, it just can't go out.

B. Engineers all over the world have, through the years, set about designing a flame that resists extinction, to varying degrees of success. But Olympic organizers know better; each year they arrange complex contingency plans in an effort to ensure that the final torch did somehow, come from that original fire lit in Greece. The reason for these elaborate backup plans is a good one: carrying a flame for thousands of miles and across varying landscapes is, unsurprisingly, an incredibly difficult feat. There are so many steps along the way that can wreak havoc - that starts with the initial lighting.

C. The original Olympics looked almost nothing like the modern ones, but we like to draw on the ancient origins and so we still hold a ceremony at their birthplace: Olympia, Greece. Like children igniting ants with a magnifying glass, the actresses playing the part of Greek priestesses light the initial Olympic torch with a mirror. Specifically, they use a parabolic mirror, which is curved and looks a bit like a small satellite dish. The curvature focuses light in one spot, where the beams all meet at a single, intense spot. The one used in the ceremony at the Temple of Hera in Olympia has a focal point just above the mirror's surface. A "priestess" simply has to hold the torch in that spot and wait for the light to heat the fuel enough for it to ignite.

D. The ceremonial lighting is always held in Greece, and the flame is then symbolically transferred from person to person in an elaborate relay to whichever city is hosting the games. Greece is a fairly sunny place, so lack of available focalizing light is rarely a problem. But just in case, Olympic organizers hold a dress rehearsal on a bright day leading up to the real ceremony and light a flame, thus creating a backup source should the mirror fail to work during the ceremony.

E. And thus begins a little-known Olympic tradition: keeping a backup flame. Yes, that flame that's never supposed to extinguish sometimes probably does - we just never hear about it. To ensure that no one has to lie and say that the flame used to light the torch at the opening ceremony of the games isn't actually derived from that initial light, they light multiple miners lamps from the original flame and keep those backups lit, just in case. As the relay moves along its course, each torch-bearer only carries a lit flame for a short while - about 20 minutes according to one report. That's because the fuel in a torch of that size simply can't last very long. The fuel should, in theory, last for longerthan that to ensure that if something goes wrong on a leg of the relay, the team has some wiggle room. Still, rain and wind have put out the torch before, and organizers have had to relight the flame from the backup lanterns every time.

F. The 1972 Munich games were the first to use liquid fuel, which today is usually some combination of butane, propane, and propylene.

Mixing each in varying amounts helps to control the brightness and color of the flame. Each chemical gives off a certain characteristic color taigof fuel allows to a pit light hidden insite the top orehe topen. This rele ame rin regite the whole thing the indian presides out, which is crucial given that torch-bearers have to sometimes run in the rain and up mountains where the air gets thin. In an interview, Sam Shelton, who created the torch for the 1996 Atlanta games, said that he tested the torch's endurance by having members of his team carry it to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado, a 15,000 foot summit.

G. At the opening ceremony, engineers need to ensure everyone there is able to see the famed flame. Sometimes they design the fuel to smoke a bit, making the light more visible. Other times they just need to make the flame brighter by igniting more gas at once or choosing a fuel that burns at a higher temperature. This went disastrously wrong in 1956, when the Olympics where held in Melbourne. The engineers had put a combination of magnesium and aluminum inside the torch so the flame would sparkle and burn brightly, which it did But it also spewed bits of hot metal and sparks that burned the arm of the poor torch-bearer. Now, designers mostly use liquid fuels that have a more brilliant or larger flame to increase the visibility.

H. No matter what, though, the flame you see igniting the cauldron at the opening ceremony did somehow come from a fire lit in Olympia. It just takes an intricate system of backups and contingency plans to do it. And even if all of those plans failed, rest assured that you will never know the difference. The next time you see the Olympic flame being carried in a relay through your country, you can feel smug in the knowledge of the bearer may never know how many times the flame has been re-lit, or even if this is the torch the runner was supposed to be carrying, or a back-up one! But the audience most likely does not know or even care; the torch is a symbol, signifying the essential spirit of the games, and that is all that really matters.

Questions 28-35

The text has 8 SECTIONS, marked A to H. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

i. The need for a contingency plan

ii. Symbol of the spirit of the games

ill. The german connection

iv. The greek connection

v. The engineering behind the flame

vi. Harnessing the laws of physics

vii. Not just one torch

viii. Mistakes do happen

28. Paragraph A

Answer: iii. The German connection

Supporting statement: "For the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Adolf Hitler wanted to draw on the ancient Greeks to bring a certain authoritative, classical air to modern Germany."

Keywords: Hitler, 1936 Olympics, Berlin

Keyword Location: Paragraph A, Line 1

Explanation: The paragraph explains how the modern Olympic torch relay was introduced by Nazi Germany for the 1936 Olympics, making it the clear historical connection.

29. Paragraph B

Answer: i. The need for a contingency plan

Supporting statement: "Each year they arrange complex contingency plans in an effort to ensure that the final torch did somehow, come from that original fire lit in Greece."

Keywords: backup plans, contingency

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Line 3

Explanation: The paragraph highlights the difficulties in keeping the flame alive and the necessity of backup strategies to ensure continuity.

30. Paragraph C

Answer: vi. Harnessing the laws of physics

Supporting statement: "Like children igniting ants with a magnifying glass, the actresses playing the part of Greek priestesses light the initial Olympic torch with a mirror."

Keywords: parabolic mirror, focus light

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 3

Explanation: This section describes how the torch is lit using a parabolic mirror, demonstrating the application of physics principles.

31. Paragraph D

Answer: iv. The Greek connection

Supporting statement: "The ceremonial lighting is always held in Greece, and the flame is then symbolically transferred from person to person."

Keywords: Greece, Olympia, ceremony

Keyword Location: Paragraph D, Line 1

Explanation: The paragraph emphasizes the connection between the Olympic flame and its historical Greek origins.

32. Paragraph E

Answer: vii. Not just one torch

Supporting statement: "To ensure that no one has to lie and say that the flame used to light the torch at the opening ceremony isn’t actually derived from that initial light, they light multiple miners lamps from the original flame."

Keywords: backup flame, multiple torches

Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Line 3

Explanation: This section explains that several backup flames exist to maintain continuity in case the primary flame goes out.

33. Paragraph F

Answer: v. The engineering behind the flame

Supporting statement: "The 1972 Munich games were the first to use liquid fuel, which today is usually some combination of butane, propane, and propylene."

Keywords: fuel, endurance, engineering

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Line 1

Explanation: The paragraph discusses how engineers use different fuel types to ensure the flame’s longevity and visibility.

34. Paragraph G

Answer: viii. Mistakes do happen

Supporting statement: "This went disastrously wrong in 1956, when the Olympics were held in Melbourne."

Keywords: mistake, burn, sparks

Keyword Location: Paragraph G, Line 5

Explanation: This section discusses an incident where the torch design failed, leading to injuries.

35. Paragraph H

Answer: ii. Symbol of the spirit of the games

Supporting statement: "The torch is a symbol, signifying the essential spirit of the games, and that is all that really matters."

Keywords: symbol, spirit of the games

Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Last Line

Explanation: The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the symbolic meaning of the torch, rather than its literal continuity.

Questions 36 - 40

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text to complete the following:

36. There were no Olympic torches before ………………….

Answer: 1936

Supporting statement: "For the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Adolf Hitler wanted to draw on the ancient Greeks to bring a certain authoritative, classical air to modern Germany."

Keywords: no Olympic torches before, 1936

Keyword Location: Paragraph A, Line 1

Explanation: The passage states that the Olympic torch relay tradition began in 1936, meaning there were no Olympic torches before that year.

37. The Greek priestesses who light the flame are actually ……………….

Answer: actresses

Supporting statement: "Like children igniting ants with a magnifying glass, the actresses playing the part of Greek priestesses light the initial Olympic torch with a mirror."

Keywords: Greek priestesses, actually

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 2

Explanation: The passage clarifies that the women playing Greek priestesses in the lighting ceremony are actually actresses.

38. The flame burns brighter if the fuel used burn at a …………. Temperature.

Answer: higher

Supporting statement: "Other times they just need to make the flame brighter by igniting more gas at once or choosing a fuel that burns at a higher temperature."

Keywords: flame burns brighter, fuel, temperature

Keyword Location: Paragraph G, Line 2

Explanation: The passage states that burning fuel at a higher temperature makes the flame brighter.

39. The accident at the Melbourne Olympics was a result of an effort to make the torch burn …………..

Answer: brightly

Supporting statement: "The engineers had put a combination of magnesium and aluminum inside the torch so the flame would sparkle and burn brightly, which it did. But it also spewed bits of hot metal and sparks that burned the arm of the poor torch-bearer."

Keywords: accident, Melbourne Olympics, torch burn

Keyword Location: Paragraph G, Line 3

Explanation: The accident happened because engineers tried to make the torch burn more brightly.

40. Organizers have to have elaborate ………….. plans to ensure that the flame stays lit through its journey from Greece to the venue of the Olympics.

Answer: contingency

Supporting statement: "The reason for these elaborate backup plans is a good one: carrying a flame for thousands of miles and across varying landscapes is, unsurprisingly, an incredibly difficult feat."

Keywords: elaborate, ensure flame stays lit

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Line 3

Explanation: The passage states that organizers have complex contingency plans to make sure the flame remains lit throughout its journey.

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