The Olympic torch was again temporarily extinguished in Buenos Aires - not as a result of disturbance, but because of a crowd of 500,000 people welcoming it on the streets.

For some time, our convoy could hardly move, and the torch, designed under principles of environment friendliness, burns only for a dozen or so minutes before refueling. On this occasion, and many others, it had to be extinguished.

Before this occasion, the torch flame went out twice in Paris, and media reports have since questioned the continuity of the Olympic flame, highlighting on its alleged "extinguishment" in France.

While these concerns are genuine, they nonetheless stem from notable misconceptions.

What must be made clear is the difference between the Olympic flame and its carrying devices: the safety lantern, the torch and the cauldron.

The flame carried by these devices must be extinguished at some point, while the original flame lit in Olympia remains alight until late August, when the Games concludes in Beijing.

According to the publicly available Olympic Torch Relay (OTR) technical manual, backup flames operate "at all times and may be used periodically to relight torches that fail for technical or other reasons".

The Olympic flame is the flame, which is lit in Olympia, Greece under the authority of the IOC.

Greece now keeps it alight and will continue burning the Olympic flame until the Games close.

Beijing, too, has recaptured the flame at its welcoming ceremony on March 31.

Continuity of the Olympic flame is ensured so long as the flame stays alight in either location.

And to be sure, the three safety lanterns containing the flame on board the relay team's chartered aircraft are another source of the sacred fire.

All these are to safeguard the continuation of the Olympic flame - in other words, to make sure the flame we are traveling the world with is the same as the one lit in Olympia.

As far as the extinguishment issue is concerned, there are three occasions when the flame goes out.

The underlying principle for all three is to protect its integrity by ensuring there is only one Olympic flame in operation at any given time.

The Olympic flame carried by any "Lucky Clouds" torch must be extinguished as it is transferred to the next torch during the course of a relay.

Secondly, the fire in each community cauldron, recaptured from safety lanterns, must be extinguished at the end of every leg's celebration. Even the flame carried by the lanterns themselves should go out periodically - in our case, every 10 or so hours - for cleaning and refueling purposes.

Nonetheless, the flame is lit at all times in at least one lantern.

A third situation is when the flame carried by the torch or other devices goes out unexpectedly (from either natural or human disruption).

Both the Paris and Buenos Aires scenarios fall under this category.

But the purity and continuity of the Olympic flame were maintained because the torches in both cities were relit in time from the safety lanterns.

As the IOC document notes, part of the respect for the Olympic flame is derived from its purity of message and its wide acceptance as a symbol of peace and solidarity.

This very integrity and spirit have been and will be preserved as we continue our global odyssey en route to Beijing.

(China Daily April 14, 2008)