RIO 2016: Movement, innovation and Brazilian flavour: these are the three qualities that form the essence of the Rio 2016 Olympic torch, which was unveiled on Friday (3 July) morning in Brasília. Its design aims to reflect the meeting of the Olympic flame with the human warmth of the Brazilian people, the hosts of the first Olympic Games in South America.

The torch was revealed at a special event – attended by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Rio 2016 President Carlos Arthur Nuzman and a host of leading sport figures, including Olympic sailing medallists Torben Grael and Isabel Swan, and volleyball stars Leila and Paulão – at which the 83 Brazilian cities where the torch relay will end each day were also announced. These cities include the capitals of all 26 Brazilian states and Brasília in the Federal District.

The torch relay convoy is expected to visit 500 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. The route was designed to reach the highest number of people as possible, and Rio 2016 estimates that the torch relay will reach 90 per cent of Brazilians. The complete list of places on the route will be revealed at the beginning of next year.

“We want to show the world the chemistry that we believe will be born when the Olympic Flame meets the warmth of the Brazilian people,” said Nuzman. “Rio de Janeiro is working very hard to host the Games, but these are all of Brazil’s Games and the whole population will take part.”

“The day is coming when we will have the honour of being the first country in South America to host the biggest sporting event on the planet,” said Rousseff. “In 399 days, people from across the world will look at us and see the Olympic flame lit in Rio. We are confident that we are going to meet, to the highest level, this great challenge that we have taken on.”

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 200m, then passing the flame – which will have been lit in Greece – on to the next. The torch will travel 20,000km 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.

Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio, said: “The Olympic Games are not only about sport. They are part of a process of presenting the host country to the world. We will now have an opportunity to show what a great nation we are.”

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 design of the Rio 2016 torch was inspired by the Olympic Spirit, our country’s nature, and the harmonious diversity and energy of our people,” said Beth Lula, Rio 2016's brand director.

Sao Paulo-based design studio Chelles & Hayashi was selected from a nationwide tender featuring 76 agencies, judged by a multidisciplinary panel formed of 11 expert members. The winning design was refined in collaboration with the Rio 2016 Organising Committee.

Over the next two months, Rio 2016 and the torch relay partners – Coca-Cola, Nissan and Bradesco – will announce public campaigns to select the torchbearers.

The exact date on which the torch leaves Brasília will be confirmed soon, but the relay has a definite finish date: 5 August 2016, the day of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games opening ceremony at the legendary Maracanã Stadium.