For 65 days beginning Dec. 4, more than 11,500 people will carry the Olympic Torch on a 13,500-mile journey through the United States to Salt Lake City, where it will light the Olympic Cauldron on Feb. 8 and open the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

With such an expansive territory to cover, the durability of the Torch will be put to the test. It must be engineered so that the Olympic flame cannot be easily extinguished under widely varying weather conditions, including wind, rain, heat and extreme cold.

The Salt Lake Games mark the second time Georgia Tech Professor Sam Shelton has stepped up to the challenge of building an Olympic Torch. In addition to the 2002 Winter Olympic Torch for Salt Lake City, he built the 1996 Summer Olympic Torch for Atlanta.