Movement, innovation and Brazilian flavour is the inspiration behind the design of the Rio 2016 Olympic torch, which was unveiled on 3 July 2015. Its design aims to reflect the meeting of the Olympic flame with the human warmth of the Brazilian people.

The torch relay convoy is expected to visit 500 Brazilian cities and towns – about 300 of which will host the relay itself while a further 200 will cheer the convoy as it passes by with the flame on display. They include the capitals of all 26 Brazilian states and Brasília. The route has been designed to reach the highest number of people as possible, and Rio 2016 estimates that the torch relay will reach 90 per cent of the Brazilian population.

The journey will begin in May 2016 and will last between 90 and 100 days. There will be about 12,000 torchbearers, each one carrying their torch about 200 meters, then passing the flame – which will have been lit in Greece – on to the next. The torch will travel 20,000 km by road and another 10,000 miles by air over the North and Midwest parts of the country, between the cities of Teresina and Campo Grande, without the flame ever going out.

The torch’s texture has triangles running the length of its body, alluding to the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect, and the floating effect of its different segments refers to the efforts of the athletes. One of its main innovations is the movement of these segments, which open up and expand vertically when the Olympic flame is passed from one torchbearer to another. This is known as “the kiss of the torches”.
Upon expanding, the segments reveal the elements that add the Brazilian flavour – diversity, energy and nature – represented by the sea, mountains, sky and sun, and the colours of the Brazilian flag.

Crafted from recycled aluminium and resin with a satin finish, the torch weighs between 1kg and 1.5kg and stands 63.5cm high when closed and 69cm when opened.

The torch relay will start in Brasília and has a definite finish date: 5 August 2016, the day of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games opening ceremony at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio.

The 83 cities that will be the final destination of the Olympic flame at the end of each day are:

1 – Brasília
2 – Anápolis
3 – Goiânia
4 – Caldas Novas
5 – Uberlândia
6 – Patos de Minas
7 – Montes Claros
8 – Curvelo
9 – Governador Valadares
10 – Itabira
11 – Belo Horizonte
12 – Juiz de Fora
13 – Cachoeiro de Itapemirim
14 – Vitória
15 – São Mateus
16 – Porto Seguro
17 – Vitória da Conquista
18 – Ilhéus
19 – Valença
20 – Salvador
21 – Senhor do Bonfim
22 – Petrolina
23 – Paulo Afonso
24 – Aracaju
25 – Maceió
26 – Caruaru
27 – Recife
28 – Campina Grande
29 – João Pessoa
30 – Natal
31 – Mossoró
32 – Fortaleza
33 – Sobral
34 – Parnaíba
35 – Teresina
36 – Imperatriz
37 – Palmas
38 – São Luís
39 – Belém
40 – Macapá
41 – Santarém
42 – Boa Vista
43 – Manaus
44 – Rio Branco
45 – Porto Velho
46 – Cuiabá
47 – Campo Grande
48 – Dourados
49 – Presidente Prudente
50 – Londrina
51 – Cascavel
52 – Foz do Iguaçu
53 – Pato Branco
54 – Passo Fundo
55 – Santa Maria
56 – Pelotas
57 – Porto Alegre
58 – Caxias do Sul
59 – Criciúma
60 – Florianopólis
61 – Blumenau
62 – Joinville
63 – Curitiba
64 – Ponta Grossa
65 – Itapetininga
66 – Bauru
67 – Ribeirão Preto
68 – Franca
69 – Campinas
70 – Osasco
71 – São Bernado
72 – São Paulo
73 – Santos
74 – São José dos Campos
75 – Angra dos Reis
76 – Volta Redonda
77 – Petrópolis
78 – Nova Friburgo
79 – Macaé
80 – Cabo Frio
81 – Niterói
82 – Nova Iguaçu
83 – Rio de Janeiro

Rio 2016 has opened a gift shop at Terminal 1 of Rio’s International Airport. Open from 6 am until 11 pm the shop sells various Olympic and Paralympic-related merchandise, such as clothes, hats, and beach towels as well as soft-toy versions of the Rio 2016 mascots, Vinicius and Tom.

The Rio Airport shop is the first of a series that will be open at airports: Rio’s Santos Dumont will have a shop soon, as will the airports in São Paulo. Apart from the airport’s new store, there are a number of sites around Rio where official products are already on sale, such as the Tijuca campus of the Estácio de Sá University and the city centre.

You can also access the Rio 2016 Brazilian online store, which has an exclusive range of toys. Prices vary from from caps costing R$49 (US$15) to 45cm soft toys at R$139,90 (US$45).

By 2016, an expected 12,000 products will be available, with the expectation that these items will generate around R$1billion in Brazilian retail sales.

Olympic merchandise will eventually be available at 150 official Rio 2016 stores and at more than 40,000 sales points across Brazil.