Despite its elegance, the new emblem for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, radiates a ruggedness that calls to mind the strength of a Bombardier business jet.

With national pride on the line, the Vancouver Olympic Committee naturally turned to Canada’s most innovative company, Bombardier, to help create a memorable torch for the occasion. Because if you want to make sure an item combines striking form with superior function, you rely on one of the world’s largest civil aircraft manufacturers.

A RUGGED RELAY
More than 12,000 of the graceful torches will transfer the Olympic flame across the length and breadth of Canada, in a 30,000-mile relay from the soaring Rockies to the barren frozen tundra, through small towns and vibrant modern cities.

Bombardier, an Official Supporter of the 2010 Winter Games, contributed its intimate knowledge of industrial design and innovation to help develop and manufacture the torches. The company worked with the Olympic organizing committee’s design team to produce a torch of fluid beauty – yet tough enough to survive conditions that might make a polar bear think twice about venturing out of his den.

DEMANDING SPECS
The torch design, approved by the International Olympic Committee, was unveiled in early 2009, a year in advance of the Games.

• People of all ages and sizes must be able to handle it. It weighs just 3.5 pounds and is about a yard long.
• It has to burn for at least 12-15 minutes, produce a flame visible in all conditions and make it easy to transfer the flame between torches. The stainless steel, aluminum and advanced composite shell houses a mixed-fuel burner generating a brilliant orange foot-long flame that unfurls like a flag fluttering in the wind – and will stay lit for at least the required time.
• It must lend itself to mass production. Bombardier’s production design experts contributed their expertise to ensure that the torch would be both beautiful and easily manufactured.

“The design of an Olympic Torch is very important,” said Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, who participated in revealing the design. “It cradles the Olympic Flame and its message of hope, the celebration of excellence, friendship and respect wherever it travels in the world. The Vancouver 2010 Torch design is like Canada – young, exciting, innovative and welcoming to everyone who sees and holds it.”