Out of Fire, into Frying Pan: Olympic Torch Design History

Sculptor Walter Lemcke kept it simple when designing the first Olympic torch for the Berlin games of 1936, wisely omitting the eagle and swastika florishes he whipped up that same year for Hermann Göring‘s Air Ministry building. Subsequent designers stuck with classic, often chalice-like torches, until the Tokyo games of 1964 ushered in a minimalist, épée-like flame holder (pictured above, third from left) that proved enduringly popular. But things really started to get strange in 1968, when Mexico tried to render its Olympic logo in three dimensions with a torch that looked better suited to beating huevos.