UPDATE: A new image was uploaded of the torch being used during the relay. The torch is not the same one used in the photo.
Exceedingly rare original Morgedal torch used to mark the commencement of the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympics, constructed of a wrapped bundle of 10 pinewood sticks, measuring approximately 18″ in length, with the upper tips noticeably charred from use. The tradition of using a Morgedal flame originated during the Oslo 1952 Winter Olympics when local teacher Olav S. Bjaaland proposed the idea of a cross-country ski relay to observe the country’s debut hosting of the Games. The IOC agreed to the idea and the first Winter Olympic torch relay came to fruition.
This rare torch was obtained directly from a member of the Lillehammer Torch Relay Organizing Committee, who stated that the offered torch was one of six produced — and one of the three torches used — for the incredible ‘non-Olympic’ national relay that took place over 75 days in Norway. On November 27, 1993, a flame was lit at Overbo, Morgedal, the birthplace of Norwegian skiing pioneer Sondre Norheim, and carried a distance of over 8,000 kilometers by 7,000 torchbearers to the Olympic Village at Lillehammer. Although Greek officials barred the Morgedal flame’s use in any official Olympic tradition, the Morgedal flame and its incredible country-crossing journey proved to be the most comprehensive cultural endeavor in Norwegian history.
