By Brooke Everett
The Olympic Torch Relay for the Sydney 2000 Olympics heads to the Kununurra Airport, the first destination in Western Australia, after making history Tuesday, Jun 27, as it burned underwater for the first time.
According the Sydney Olympic Web site, the torch was able to burn underwater by flare composition loaded at high pressure into a steel tube.
The chemical formulation produces sufficient gassing agents, including oxygen and nitrogen, to maintain a hot flame. The flame burns to prevent water at the pressure depth of three meters from entering the tube and extinguishing the flame.
The torch was carried underwater by Port Douglas marine biologist Wendy Craig Duncan.
Just after 1 p.m. Tuesday, Duncan took the torch underwater and swam with it for 2-minutes, 40 seconds.
“Before I took the torch down my adrenaline was pumping,” Duncan said. “I was apprehensive, but once I got started I really enjoyed it.”
Duncan is an accomplished diver, well-known to visitors and local children who travel to the reef each year to learn about the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
She has worked as a reef ecologist in Fort Douglas for the last 12 years and conducts daily tours of the Great Barrier Reef.
She was nominated to carry the torch by someone unbeknownst to her. Duncan said she is really grateful to have had the opportunity.
Stretching through Queensland for over 2000 kilometres, the Great Barrier Reef is the most extensive reef system in the world.
It is also reported to be the only natural structure visible from outer space, according to the Sydnee Olympics Web site.
“The Great Barrier Reef is an extraordinary piece of nature and we are proud to be showcasing it to the world as we write a new chapter in torch relay history by taking the Olympic flame underwater at Agincourt Reef,” said Torch Relay general manager Di Henry.
More than 400 different kinds of coral and 15,000 species of fish flourish in the reef.
Duncan said the fish were frightened because the torch made a lot of noise underwater.
“It bubbled and hissed,” she said. “The fish were surprised; they kept their distance.”
Combining the torch with this special Eco system was symbol of the world celebrating the communities, Duncan said.
