Lighting of the flame in Greece, using the sun's energy The Olympic flame is ignited some weeks or months before the opening ceremony of the
Olympic Games at the
main site of the
ancient Olympics in
Olympia, Greece. A group of women representing the
Vestal Virgins (usually 11 in number) perform a celebration at the
Temple of Hera, during which a fire is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a
parabolic mirror. The fire is used to light the first torch of the Olympic Torch Relay. Where cloudy weather prevents the use of the parabolic mirror on the day of the ceremony (as in 2024), a backup flame is used that has been lit during a prior dress rehearsal. An actress plays the role of the temple's high priestess and presents the torch and an olive branch to the first relay bearer, usually a Greek athlete who has already qualified to compete in that edition of the Games. This is followed by a recitation of a poem by
Pindar, and the release of a flock of doves to symbolize peace. At the beginning of the ceremony, the Olympic hymn is sung first followed by the national anthem of the country hosting the Olympics and the national anthem of Greece along with the hoisting of the flags. After the ceremony at Olympia the Olympic flame first travels to Greece. It first goes to the Coubertin Grove on the site of the
International Olympic Academy, where it is used to light an altar beside the final resting place of
Pierre de Coubertin's heart. The flame is then transferred during a ceremony in the
Panathenaic Stadium in Athens from the
Hellenic Olympic Committee to the current year's National Olympic Committee (NOC) and local Organizing Committee (OCOG) hosts. The
Olympic torch relay, which transports the Olympic flame from
Olympia, Greece to the various designated sites of the Games, had no ancient precedent and was introduced by
Carl Diem at the
1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. At the first Olympic torch relay, the flame was transported from Olympia to Berlin over 3,187 kilometers (1,980 miles) by 3,331 runners in twelve days and eleven nights. Nazi Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels commissioned filmmaker and propagandist
Leni Riefenstahl to film the event. In the 1956 Melbourne Games in Australia, local veterinary student
Barry Larkin protested against the relay when he tricked onlookers by carrying a fake flame, consisting of a pair of underpants set on fire in a
plum pudding can, attached to a chair leg. He successfully managed to hand over the fake flame to
Mayor of Sydney Pat Hills and escape without being noticed. The Olympic torch travels routes that symbolise human achievement or the history of the host country. Although most of the time the torch with the Olympic flame is still carried by runners, it has been transported in many different ways. The fire travelled by boat in 1948 and 2012 to cross the
English Channel and was carried by rowers in
Canberra as well as by
dragon boat in
Hong Kong in 2008. It was first transported by
airplane in 1952 when the flame travelled to
Helsinki. In 1956, all carriers in the torch relay to
Stockholm, where the equestrian events were held instead of in Melbourne, travelled on horseback. Remarkable means of transportation were used in 1976, when the flame was transformed to a radio signal and transmitted from Europe to the
New World: Heat sensors in
Athens detected the flame, the signal was sent to
Ottawa via
satellite where it was received and used to trigger a
laser beam to re-light the flame. The torch, but not the flame, was taken into space by astronauts in 1996, 2000 and 2014. Other unique means of transportation include a
Native American canoe, a
camel, and
Concorde. The torch has been carried across water; during the French leg of the
1968 Winter Olympics was carried across the port of
Marseille by a diver holding it aloft above the water. In 2000, an underwater flare was used by a diver across the
Great Barrier Reef en route to the Sydney Games. In 2012 it was carried by boat across
Bristol Harbour in the UK and on the front of a
London Underground train to Wimbledon. In 2004, the first
global torch relay was undertaken, a journey that lasted 78 days. The Olympic flame covered a distance of more than 78,000 km in the hands of some 11,300 torchbearers, travelling to Africa and South America for the first time, visiting all previous and future Summer Olympic cities, and finally returning to
Greece for the
2004 Summer Olympics. The
2008 Summer Olympics torch relay spanned six continents before proceeding through
China. However, there was protests against China's human rights record in London where a "ring of steel" was formed around the flame to protect it, but one protester managed to grab hold of the torch while it was being held by television presenter
Konnie Huq. In Paris the torch was extinguished at least twice by Chinese officials (five times according to French police) so that it could be transported in a bus amid protests while it was being paraded through Paris. This eventually led to the cancellation of the relay's last leg in the city. Demonstrations were also held in
San Francisco and the route the torch would take was cut in half. As a result, in 2009, the International Olympic Committee announced that from the
2010 Winter Olympics onward, the future torch relays could be held only within the country hosting the Olympics after the initial Greek leg was finished. Although this rule took effect with the
2010 Winter Olympics, the organizers of the
2012 Summer Olympics in London, the
2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and
2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro chose to hold their torch relays only in their respective hosting countries of the United Kingdom, Russia, and Brazil (except for brief stops in the United States, Ireland, and Switzerland, respectively). In 2016, ten days before the beginning of the
2016 Summer Olympics in , citizens of , a city near , managed to extinguish the Olympic flame during a protest against the city spending money on hosting the Olympics despite
an economic crisis in Brazil. The Olympic torch relay in the host country ends with the lighting of the Olympic
cauldron during the
opening ceremony in the central host stadium of the Games. The final carrier is often kept unannounced until the last moment. Over the years, it has become a tradition to let a famous athlete of the host nation, former athletes or athletes with significant achievements and milestones be the last runner in the Olympic torch relay.
Re-igniting the flame It is not uncommon for the Olympic flame to be accidentally or deliberately extinguished during the course of the torch relay (and on at least one occasion the cauldron itself has gone out during the Games). To guard against this eventuality, multiple copies of the flame are transported with the relay or maintained in backup locations. When a torch goes out, it is re-lit (or another torch is lit) from one of the backup sources. Thus, the fires contained in the torches and Olympic cauldrons all trace a common lineage back to the same Olympia lighting ceremony. • One of the more memorable extinguishings occurred at the
1976 Summer Olympics held in
Montreal,
Quebec,
Canada. After a rainstorm doused the Olympic flame a few days after the games had opened, an official re-lit the flame using a cigarette lighter. Organizers quickly doused it again and re-lit it using a backup of the original flame. The design of 2004 had a safeguard built into it: There are two flames inside the torch. There is a highly visible (yellow flame) portion that burns cooler and is more prone to extinguish in wind and rain, but there is also a smaller hotter (blue in the candle's wick) flame akin to a
pilot light hidden inside the torch which is protected from wind and rain and is capable of relighting the cooler, more visible portion if it is extinguished. The fuel contained inside the torch is able to keep it lit for approximately 15 minutes before it would be extinguished.
Selected relays in detail The flame is transported from Greece to the host country where the flame is transported by torch around the host nation to the main stadium.
Olympic cauldron lighting lighting the Olympic flame in Helsinki in 1952 During the
opening ceremony the final bearer of the torch runs towards the cauldron, often placed at the top of a grand staircase, and then uses the torch to start the flame in the stadium. The climactic transfer of the Olympic flame from the final torch to the cauldron at the central host stadium marks the symbolic commencement of the Games. IOC protocol specifies that the lighting of the Olympic flame must be witnessed by the attendees of the opening ceremony, and should be visible to the residents of the host city. As with being the final runner of the Olympic torch relay, it is considered to be a great honor to light the Olympic cauldron, and in the same way it has become a tradition to select notable athletes to conduct this part of the ceremony. On other occasions, the people who lit the cauldron in the stadium are not famous but nevertheless symbolize Olympic ideals.
Japanese runner
Yoshinori Sakai was born on the day of the
atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He was chosen for the role to symbolize
Japan's postwar reconstruction and peace, opening the
1964 Tokyo Games. At the
1976 Games in
Montreal, two teenagers — one from the French-speaking part of the country, one from the English-speaking part — symbolized the unity of
Canada. At the
2012 Games in
London, the torch was carried by
Sir Steve Redgrave to a group of seven young British athletes (Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt,
Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds and
Adelle Tracey) — each nominated by a British Olympic champion — who then each lit a single tiny flame on the ground, igniting 204 copper petals before they converged to form the cauldron for the Games. The first well-known athlete to light the cauldron in the stadium was the ninefold Olympic Champion
Paavo Nurmi, who excited the home crowd in Helsinki in 1952. In 1968,
Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron at the Olympic Games in
Mexico City. Perhaps one of the most spectacular of Olympic cauldron lighting ceremonies took place at the
1992 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, when
Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the cauldron by shooting a burning arrow over it, which ignited gas rising from the cauldron, although there are theories that the cauldron was manually forced to ignite.
Two years later, the Olympic fire was brought into the stadium of
Lillehammer by a
ski jumper. In Beijing 2008,
Li Ning "ran" on air around the interior edge of the
Beijing National Stadium's roof, and lit a cauldron attached to it.
Olympic cauldron designs The cauldron and the pedestal are always the subjects of unique and often dramatic design. These also tie in with
how the cauldron is lit during the Opening Ceremony. After being lit, the flame in the Olympic cauldron continues to burn during the Games, until the
closing ceremony, when it is finally put out symbolizing the official end of the Games. • In Los Angeles in 1984,
Rafer Johnson lit a wick at the top of the archway after having climbed a big flight of steps. The flame flared up a pipe, through the Olympic Rings, and on up the side of the tower to ignite the cauldron. The cauldron used in 1984 is the centerpiece of the
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; it was used in 1932 and will likely also be used in 2028. • In Atlanta in 1996, the cauldron was an artistic
scroll decorated in red and gold. It was lit by
Muhammad Ali, using a mechanical, self-propelling fuse ball that transported the flame up a wire from the stadium to its cauldron. At the
1996 Summer Paralympics, the scroll was lit by
paraplegic climber Mark Wellman, hoisting himself up a rope to the cauldron. • At the
2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the
cauldron was initially concealed in a circular pool of water.
Cathy Freeman used the torch to ignite a ring of fire around her, which then rose from the pool to reveal the cauldron. It ascended up a waterfall to the roof of the stadium, where it rested in its final position on a pedestal. A technical glitch caused the sequence to unexpectedly halt, resulting in the cauldron being suspended above Freeman for several minutes while engineers overrode the conveyor system. • At the
2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the cauldron was lit by the members of the gold medal-winning
U.S. men's ice hockey team from the
1980 Winter Olympics. The flame was carried up a staircase to the team members, who then lit a wick of sorts at the bottom of the cauldron tower which set off a line of flames that travelled up inside the tower until it reached the cauldron at the top which ignited. This cauldron was the first to use glass and incorporated running water to prevent the glass from heating, and make it resemble melting ice. • For the
2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the cauldron was a giant reproduction of the Olympic torch that year which was based on an olive leaf; it bowed down to accept the flame from windsurfer
Nikolaos Kaklamanakis. • In the
2006 Winter Olympics in Turin,
Stefania Belmondo placed the flame on an arched lighting apparatus, which initiated a series of fireworks before lighting the top of the Olympic cauldron, the highest in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. • In the
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the
cauldron resembled the end of a scroll and it was also a giant version of the torch used in that year's relay. But the design was lifted out from the stadium rim and spiralled upwards. It was lit by
Li Ning, who was raised to the rim of the stadium by wires. He ran around the rim of the stadium while suspended and as he ran, an unrolling scroll was projected showing film clips of the flame's journey around the world from Greece to Beijing. As he approached the cauldron, he lit an enormous wick, which then transferred the flame to the cauldron. The flame then spiralled up the structure of the cauldron before lighting it at the top. • At the
2010 Winter Olympics in
Vancouver, the
cauldron consisted of four ice crystal-like "arms" that emerged from the stadium floor, converging around a central pillar. The cauldron was to be lit simultaneously by Canadian athletes
Catriona Le May Doan,
Steve Nash, and
Wayne Gretzky. However, a technical glitch caused only three of the four arms to emerge, inadvertently leaving out Le May Doan. • At the
2012 Summer Olympics in London, the flame was passed to a group of seven young British athletes (Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt,
Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds, and
Adelle Tracey) who then each lit a single tiny flame on the ground, igniting 204 copper petals (one for each delegation in the Games) that rose up on narrow black pipes to form a single
cauldron. The cauldron was temporarily extinguished (the flame itself was transferred to a lantern) prior to the athletics events while it was moved to the southern side of the
stadium. It was relit by
Austin Playfoot, one of the final torchbearers from the 1948 Summer Olympics. Due to its placement on the stadium floor, the cauldron was not visible to the public outside the stadium; footage of the flame was displayed on screens in the stadium and
Olympic Park. • For the
2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi, Russia, the
cauldron was situated directly outside
Fisht Olympic Stadium, the ceremonial venue for the Games. After the torch's lap around the stadium, triple gold medalists
Irina Rodnina and
Vladislav Tretiak carried the torch outside the stadium to light a larger version of the "celebration cauldron" used in the main torch relay at the center of the Olympic Park. A line of gas jets carried the flame from the celebration cauldron up the main cauldron tower, eventually lighting it at the top. • For the
2016 Summer Olympics in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the
cauldron was lit inside
Maracanã Stadium by
Vanderlei de Lima, consisting of a small cauldron illuminating a larger
kinetic sculpture designed by
Anthony Howe. A second, permanent cauldron at
Candelária Church Plaza was lit by a youth ambassador following the opening ceremony; the Maracanã was not being used as a competition venue for the majority of the Games. • For the
2018 Winter Olympics in
Pyeongchang, South Korea, the flame was eventually handed to
Yuna Kim, who was at the top of a set of steps. She then lit a wick of sorts, which lit a large metal flaming pillar with thirty parts, representing the 30 years since
Seoul 1988 as a time tunnel between the two Olympic Games held in the Republic of Korea. The pillar rose to the top of the cauldron, lighting it. The cauldron was a large sphere on the top, nested inside a white sculpture. The cauldron's design was inspired by
Joseon white porcelain. • For the
2020 Summer Olympics in
Tokyo, the flame was handed to
Naomi Osaka, who stood in front of a large mountain-like structure resembling
Mount Fuji. At the top of the mountain was a large closed ball, resembling the sun. This ball unfolded, revealing many petals of a flower representing hope, energy and vitality, forming the
cauldron. Osaka then walked up a set of steps revealed as the ball unfolded and lit the cauldron. As with the Vancouver and Rio games, two cauldrons were made. One scenographic was located inside the Olympic stadium and the official outside, which was located on the
Ariake West Canal bridge. • The
2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing eschewed a cauldron entirely; the final torchbearers
Zhao Jiawen and
Dilnigar Ilhamjan instead fitted the final torch into a pedestal at the centre of a large sculpture of a snowflake, constructed from placards with the names of each competing team. A flame was erected for each of the Games' three venue zones, with one at
Beijing National Stadium for the
Olympic Green, and two more at
Yanqing and
Zhangjiakou respectively. • For the
2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the
cauldron took the form of a
tethered balloon at the
Tuileries Garden in Paris, in honour of France's
historical contributions to balloon flight. For the first time, the cauldron did not contain a flame at all, instead utilizing water mist illuminated by
LED lighting to simulate the flame. The Olympic flame proper was kept in a lantern stored near the gardens. The lantern was then taken by French swimmer
Léon Marchand from
Jardins des Tuileries and ceremonially "transferred" to the
Stade de France at the start of the
closing ceremony; there it was finally extinguished just after the IOC president officially closed the Games. • At the
2026 Winter Olympics, cauldrons were located at the
Arco della Pace in
Milan and the Piazza Angelo Dibona in
Cortina d'Ampezzo to reflect the Games' two host cities; the Milan cauldron was lit by
Deborah Compagnoni and
Alberto Tomba, while
Sofia Goggia lit the Cortina cauldron. The cauldrons consisted of a
knot inspired by the work of
Leonardo da Vinci, with the flame encased in a metal and glass compartment at the centre of the sculpture. The cauldrons are capable of a
light and sound show, while the Milan cauldron is also a
kinetic sculpture suspended in the gate, capable of expanding and contracting. File:Olympiastadion Berlin Innenansicht.jpg|Traditional Olympic cauldrons often employ a simple bowl-on-pedestal design, such as the cauldron used for the
1936 Summer Olympics. File:The XIV Olympic Games opens in London, 1948.jpg|Olympic cauldron at London 1948. File:Olympiatuli 1952.jpg|Olympic cauldron at Helsinki 1952. File:1964 Cauldron.JPG|Olympic cauldron at Tokyo 1964. File:Norma Enriqueta Basilio Sotelo (1968).jpg|Olympic cauldron at Mexico 1968. File:Stephane Prefontaine, Sandra Henderson 1976b.jpg|Olympic cauldron at Montreal 1976. File:RIAN archive 104486 22nd Olympics opening gala.jpg|Olympic cauldron at Moscow 1980. File:Seoul Olympic torch.jpg|
Kim Won-tak (athlete),
Chong Son-man (teacher) and
Son Mi-jong (dance student) during the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at
1988 Summer Olympics File:Barcelona AUGUST 1992 the Olympic Games (Juegos Olímpicos de Barcelona 1992) - panoramio.jpg|Olympic cauldron at 1992 Summer Olympics. File:Atlanta cauldron during 1996 Paralympics.jpg|Olympic and Paralympic cauldron at Atlanta 1996 Games File:Olympic Flame 2000 (Summer Olympics).JPEG|Olympic flame lit at the
2000 Summer Olympics in
Sydney, Australia. File:2002 Winter Olympics flame.jpg|Olympic flame lit at the
2002 Winter Olympics in
Salt Lake City, Utah. File:Olympic flame at opening ceremony 2004 (cropped).jpg|2004 Summer Olympics cauldron during the opening ceremony at the
2004 Summer Olympics in
Athens,
Greece. File:Braciere Olimpico.jpg|Olympic cauldron at Turin 2006. File:Beijing 2008 Olympic cauldron lighting (cropped).JPG|Olympic Cauldron at Beijing 2008 during the opening ceremony. File:Vancouver 2010 Public Caldron.jpg|Public Cauldron of Vancouver 2010. File:Olympic Cauldron after being lit at the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.jpg|More artistic and
abstract designs for cauldrons, including the
2012 Summer Olympics cauldron, have also been used. File:Opening of XXII Winter Olympic Games (2338-13).jpg|Cauldrons can also take on monolithic forms, an example of which being the "cauldron tower" used for Sochi 2014. File:2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony 1035326-olimpiadas abertura-4006.jpg|The Rio 2016 Games had an innovative cauldron, which featured a kinetic sculpture with a small flame. File:Candelária cauldron at 2016 Summer Olympics.jpg|2016 public cauldron in downtown
Rio de Janeiro. File:2018 Winter Olympics Cauldron (1).jpeg|
2018 Winter Olympics Cauldron in
Pyeongchang,
South Korea. File:Tokyo 2020 Olympics Cauldron - 51498730288.jpg|
2020 Summer Olympics Cauldron in
Tokyo. File:2022 Winter Olympics cauldron at Yanqing Winter Olympic Cultural Square (20220219134049).jpg|One of the three public flames of Beijing 2022. File:Vasque Olympique Jardin Tuileries - Paris I (FR75) - 2024-07-27 - 25.jpg|
2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Cauldron in
Paris. Milan Cortina 2026 Cauldron and Arco della Pace 02 (cropped).jpg|
2026 Winter Olympics Cauldron in
Milan. ==Coinage==