COKE-COLA TORCH RELAY

The Olympic flame has come home: Main sponsors Coca Cola and the official organizers Athens 2004 commissioned Laserland to accompany the torch relay through five Greek cities to its destination in the port of Piraeus with a van-based show - and the world watched.

The starting point was Thessaloniki in northern Greece; from here the Olympic flame traveled through five cities to its destination in Athens constantly accompanied by cheering throng of spectators. The Coke Torch Relay accompanied the passing of the torch: Every evening, a fully automated multimedia system from Laserland packed into a small van projected several hours of Olympic images, a spectacle of colors and light, onto the direct surroundings of the event - sometimes on areas as large as 100 x 100 meters.

The decisive factor for the success of this ambitious project was the use of an air-cooled, 16-watt white-light DPSS laser system. Due to its low power consumption, this system can be operated from any normal power outlet. Thanks to this technical innovation in the world of multimedia, it was of no significance what formed the backdrop: buildings, trees, meadows or even mountains, the watchers were always treated to perfectly staged visual impressions. The small dimensions and flexibility of the system, the first in the world to be installed in the back of a van, were of vital importance. Air-cooled white-light DPSS lasers, 5 watt YAG lasers and the entire laser workstation were stowed away, complete with generator. 15 minutes were all that were needed to set up and align the system on location, giving a completely autonomous system with all the technical features of a permanent installation. The initial design of the shows started at the beginning of the year, and they were ready to go in the middle of 2004. During the tendering process for the Coke Olympic Shows, the Laserland global network concept was a telling factor. The prominent Greek subsidiary Laserland Hellas was able to beat off competition from companies the world over, and commissioned Laserland Germany with the implementation. Due the to considerable public interest in the five events, the Coke Torch Relay was not only seen by those who were actually at the events; thanks to many TV broadcasts, it was acclaimed throughout the world, offering a colorful, and moving spectacle en route to the 2004 Olympics.