Flame on way to L.A.

Press, 9 May 1984, Page 64

Flame on way to L.A.

NZPA-Reuter New York The Olympic flame left New York yesterday in the hands of the first of nearly 4000 American joggers running an 82-day relay over a jagged, 14,400 km course from the United Nations building to Los Angeles. The flame had been lit by the sun’s rays reflected off a concave mirror in a simple ceremony in ancient Olympia as villagers protested against what they termed its commercialisation by the Los Angeles Olympic Organising Committee. After being transferred to a 1.14 kg bronzed aluminium torch, the flame will be carried jointly for the first kilometre by grandchildren of two United States Olympic legends, Jim Thorpe and Jesse Owens. The relay, over city streets and mountains, through deserts, across rivers, along both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and past the White House, will be the longest in Olympic history and also the most controversial. For the first time, much of the route — through 33 states and 41 of America’s largest cities — will be commercially sponsored at a rate of SUSSOOO a mile. Most of the proceeds will go to- various youth programmes in the United States. The joggers who will carry the torch to Los Angeles in time for the opening ceremonies on July 28 range in age from eight to 91. The oldest is Abel Kiviat.