"Run with the maple leaf facing your heart..."
Frederic Rehayem, Bombardier’s torch quality assurance manager, shows the heart of the flame during a press briefing this week on the design of the Olympic torch. The maple leaf symbol is clearly visible along the side of the torch.
Jean-Francois Clusiau, Bombardier’s torch manager of assembly, and Frederic Rehayem, Bombardier’s torch quality assurance manager, spoke to about 20 media Wednesday about their three months of the road following the flame through the -27 C wind gusts in Dryden to 12 C on the balmy west coast.
“It was an amazing experience to see people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures go through all the kinds of weather this country can challenge us with,” said Clusiau. “You could see it warm people’s hearts.”
Bombardier, best known for its rail and aerospace products, designed and manufactured the 12,000 torches for the Olympic Torch relay.
The torch was designed with recyclable materials such as stainless steel, aluminium, copper and brass. It has a dual burner system using a blend of propane and isobutane and is designed to work at lower temperatures than any other torch in history.
“The recyclables materials will become the trains and planes of the future,” said Clusiau.
The technical components weren’t just on the inside on the torch. On the outside, Bombardier’s design team put a small maple leaf symbol on the centre of the torch which faces the torch bearer.
“When the moment comes to run with the torch, people are concentrating so hard they seem to almost blank out,” said Clusiau. “You have to train them to run so you tell them to just run with the maple leaf facing their heart.”
The flame finishes its 45,000-km relay, the longest domestic relay in Games history, today, when the final torchbearer carries it into BC Place for the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
