Editing 1968 Winter Olympics (section)

== Torch relay ==
On 16 December 1967, the Olympic torch was lit in [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]], [[Greece]]. The ceremony would have taken place on 13 December, but was postponed due to the attempted [[coup d'état]] of [[King Constantine II]], who had been forced from his throne eight months before, against the dictatorial military regime of [[Georgios Papadopoulos]].  From there,the flame was run to the Old Olympic Stadium in Athens the torch was flown by an [[Air France]] [[Boeing 707]] to the [[Orly International Airport]], where the torch was received by [[Jean Vuarnet]], the [[1960 Winter Olympics]] Downhill Olympic gold medalist, on 19 December, who handed it on to the first torchbearer [[Alain Mimoun]], the [[1956 Summer Olympics]] Marathon Olympic gold medalist.

The torch relay in France went over a distance of 7,222 kilometers through 41 districts and 170 towns to the Isère district. 5,000 torchbearers, who transported the torch on foot, by bike, by boat, by skies or by motorbike, took part in the relay. The first part of the relay was made at the old port of [[Marseille]] was done by a diver who, while swimming, held the torch just over the surface of the water. The torchbearers were accompanied by around 80,000 athletes and watched by an audience of about two million people. The last stop on the day before the opening ceremony was [[Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse]]. From there, the torch was carried to Grenoble.

The 33 torches that were used in the relay were produced by the Société technique d'équipement, a subsidiary of the [[Compagnie de Saint-Gobain]]. They were 70&nbsp;cm tall, weighed 1750 g, were made of copper and had a propane gas tank. The reserve flames (a cautionary measure in case the torch went out) burned in twenty [[carbide lamp]]s, the same as the Olympic fire when it was transported from Athens to Paris in a plane.