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Artifacts

Olympic Torch

Artifact Details

Olympic Torch

Pictured here is the "Torch of Harmony and Progress" from the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Designed by a college professor, the torch includes engravings of two dragons that symbolized the growing harmony between the East and West. Park She-jik, the President of South Korea's Olympic Committee, presented the torch to Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), William Webster.

Each torch could only sustain the Olympic flame for about ten minutes. The manufacturer, Korea Explosive Co., Ltd., produced 3,300 copies of the torch to keep the flame alive on the journey from the Temple of Hera in Greece to Seoul. In South Korea alone, 1,467 torchbearers carried the flame by foot, horseback, car, and motorcycle for 21 nights and 22 days across the country until it reached Seoul on 17 September 1988.

Now part of the CIA Museum's collection, the torch is 21.6 inches tall and 4 inches in diameter at the widest point.