They should have made it in the shape of a smokestack just to piss off the greenies.

(The Australian) — BLIZZARDS, hailstorms and hurricanes: the 2012 Olympic torch has been designed to weather anything a typical British summer can throw at it. Yet despite the ambitions of designers and the event sponsors, EDF Energy, attempts to create the world’s first low-carbon “green” Olympic flame have failed.

The gold, baton-shaped torch is 80cm long and weighs 800g, so it is light enough for the youngest runner taking part in the 70-day relay. Each bearer will start with a fresh torch lit from the Olympic flame and will be able to buy it as a souvenir. Mr Playfoot still has his torch which, he said, burnt like a blowtorch powered by naphtha.

The relay will begin at Land’s End on May 19 and the torch will be carried to every corner of Britain, including the Channel Islands, Northern Ireland and the Outer Hebrides.

However, the failure of designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby to produce a low-carbon torch was criticised. “We tried really hard to do that. We were very close, but we just ran out of time,” Mr Barber said.

The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 said that was a poor excuse. “The promise of a low-carbon torch was made in 2007 and so the excuse of ‘we ran out of time’ is not acceptable,” chairman Shaun McCarthy said.