Three years after becoming the world’s oldest skydiver, Aida Gemanque became the oldest Olympic torch bearer when she carried the flame in the Amazonian city of Macapa, aged 106. Gemanque broke the record formerly held by Alexander Kaptarenko, who was 101 when he took part in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics relay.

The 95-day torch relay will pass through 325 Brazilian cities and involve some 12,000 runners before ending at Rio’s Maracana Stadium for the lighting of the Olympic cauldron on August 5. The Macapa leg of the Rio 2016 relay also featured Maria das Dores Rosário Almeida, who has dedicated her life to campaigning for racial equality in Brazil’s Amazon region.

Did You Know?

• The Olympic flame is a symbol of the Olympic Games.
• Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics.
• The fire was introduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, and it has been part of the modern Olympic Games ever since.
• In contrast to the Olympic flame proper, the torch relay of modern times, which transports the flame from Greece to the various designated sites of the games, had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.