One of the most iconic symbols of the Olympics is certainly the Olympic torchprotagonist of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. By tradition, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympiain Greece, and which has the task of carrying the flame by the hands of thousands of torchbearers to the city hosting the Olympic Games. The design changes every time for embody the identity of each edition and depending on what the country hosting the Games wants to communicate, but the basic structure and purpose always remain the same: keep the flame lit as long as possible. In fact, fire symbolizes the collective and collaborative spirit of sport and the connection between the modern and ancient Olympic Games: it is the lighting of the brazier during the opening ceremony of the Games that officially starts the Olympics. This year, the torchbearer who will light the brazier is the paraplegic tennis player Kevin Piette.
How the Paris 2024 Olympic Torch is Made: The Design
The torch of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games stands high 70 centimeters and it weighs 1.5 kgThe body is composed of 100% recycled steel and often 0.7mm champagne-colored (an obvious reference to France but also a “synthesis” of the gold, silver and bronze colors of the medals). The French designer Mathieu Lehanneur he chose an almost perfectly symmetrical line to symbolize the value of equality which is so central to French history. One of the peculiarities of this design is that, unlike many previous Games, it will be used for both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. The lower half of the torch is wavy to recall the theme of thewaterfallimportant for these Olympics given the important role that the Seine River has for the city of Paris and will have during the Games starting from the opening ceremony.
At the top of the torch is a slot which serves to give stability to the flame to counteract bad weather.
The Paris 2024 torch is made by the French company ArcelorMittal. From a sustainability perspective, it has produced 2000 copiescompared to the approximately 10,000 made for the previous Olympic Games. Contrary to what some people think, in fact, it is not a single torch that completes the entire journey: what must reach the brazier is not so much the object itself but the flame which is lit at Olympia.
To produce the torch, the steel (entirely recycled from waste from other productions) is laminateThen cut, modeled (from a goldsmith in Normandy) and finally coated to make it more resistant and to give it the desired color. The 10 shaped steel sheets are then assembled together.
How an Olympic Torch Works and How Does the Flame Stay Lit?
Unfortunately, there are no technical details available on the Paris 2024 Olympic torch, but conceptually all torches work the same way. Inside the body, in the lower part, there is a reservoir which contains a mixture of fluids pressurized flammablesTypically these are gases (for example propylene, butane or propane) which, due to the high pressures, are stored in the tank at liquid state. This gradually flows out through a system of valves that ends in a very narrow nozzle (a few tens of thousandths of a millimetre). The sudden expansion brings the fluid to a gaseous state thus producing a constant and gradual flow of gas available for combustion. This plays a crucial role in keeping the flame burning for as long as possible. Then there are the design features, where the upper part of the torch plays a fundamental role in “cutting” wind and rain.
Some Olympic torches use a system double flamewith two different paths for the combustible fluid: one produces the yellow flame that everyone can see, about 25 centimeters high, while the other produces a lower flame, hidden by the torch itself and blue in color, which is very effective in helping the yellow flame not to go out.
When and how the Olympic torch is lit
Traditionally, the Olympic flame is lit during a ritual ceremony in front of the ruins of the ancient Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece. The ceremony, which this year took place on April 16, is performed by costumed actresses who recall the priestesses of the temple of Hera. To light the flame, they use – as was done in the Olympic Games of ancient Greece – a parabolic mirrorThe mirror collects the sun’s rays and focuses them on a point (not by chance called fire) thus concentrating enough solar energy to light the flame. In case of lack of sun on the day of the ceremony, a “backup” flame is lit one or two days beforehand which will be used to light the Olympic torch.
The flame then passes (together with an olive branch, symbol of peace) to the first torchbearerwhich lights the actual Olympic torch. Thus begins the long relay that in the following months will carry the flame from torchbearer to torchbearer and from torch to torch to the site of the Olympic Games, where finally it lights the brazier that during the opening ceremony begins the Olympic Games.
What happens if the Olympic flame goes out?
The Olympic flames have to face the most diverse and sometimes extreme situations. They are designed to accommodate flames that are as difficult to put out as possible, but sometimes it happens that the torch goes out. This It’s not a problem: in fact, at any given moment there are more torches lit – all of which have collected the original flame lit at Olympia – and if the main torch goes out there is always another one ready to relight it. As already said above, in fact, the priority is the continuity of the flame. The most notable exception to this rule was in 1976, the year of the Montreal Olympics, when a thunderstorm extinguished the flame and an official rekindled it with a lighter…
