Is there any fire in the Olympic flame?
First the Olympic torch gets toted around the world and, at the Opening Ceremony, a designated VIP lights the Olympic flame, to burn through the duration of the Games.
But in Paris, there’s no fire burning in the Mathieu Lehanneur-designed cauldron set up in the Jardin des Tuileries. Rather, it’s an eco-friendly illusion, courtesy of 40 LED spotlights and 200 misting nozzles.
And every night, a hot air balloon-type contraption raises the cauldron 200 feet into the air.
“Thanks to this system,” Lehanneur explained to NPR, “it helps us and basically it creates an amazing effect by creating this strong light and foggy and moist effect around the flame.”
There was fire, however, at the end of the torch (also designed by Lehanneur), and there’s a teeny-tiny real flame on display in the Tuileries Gardens, as well.
“For the Olympic movement, only the symbol of a flame that does not go out before the end of the Games matters,” a spokesperson for the Paris Games told the New York Times. “Given the specificity of our cauldron and the technologies involved, we will still keep a lit lantern in the immediate vicinity of the cauldron for the public to admire.”