1956 Melbourne - The cauldron stands in Ancient Olympia.
by Philip Barker
French Designer Mathieu Lehanneur has been appointed to create the cauldron for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Organisers have said that he was chosen “for his poetic and highly symbolic approach, along with his ability to grasp the values and expectations of Paris 2024.”
Although it will be the third time that Paris has hosted the Olympics, this will be the first time that a Flame has burned to accompany them.
The last time Paris staged the Olympics in 1924, the idea of the flame had not yet been introduced, although there was a Flame for the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble and
“What a joy to be part of this adventure and what a responsibility to contribute to the history of the Games in this way” said Lehanneur.
“My objective is to take this Olympic motto and add: more beautiful, lighter, more lavish,”
At the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, it is believed that a Flame burned from the tower above the stadium lit by a switch and a similar arrangement was employed at the 1932 Games in Los Angeles.
The idea of a Torch Relay from Ancient Olympia was introduced for the 1936 Games in Berlin.
After the war, the idea was revived for the London 1948 Games and at every subsequent Olympics.
The lighting of the Cauldron became more spectacular,
Until 2004, the final runner had typically run up a pathway to ignite the bowl but at the Beijing 2008 Games, gymnast Li Ning was elevated into the air in a trapeze style harness to light the cauldron on the roof of the stadium,
After the Games the cauldron was repositioned outside the stadium,
London’s Flame burned in an unusual receptacle designed by Thomas Heatherwick.
It took shape on the Opening night, built from petals carried alongside each team as they paraded into the stadium.
After the Games, the petals were dismantled and presented to each National Olympic Committee as a souvenir.
In 2016, the Flame was lit by Marathon runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima inside the Maracanã.
It burned in a kinetic sculpture by the American artist Anthony Howe which rotated as the wind blew.
The bowl containing the Olympic Flame was deliberately small as a symbol of concern for the environment,
Throughout the Games, the Flame burned at Candelaria on the Waterfront close to the cathedral.
It had been ignited by Jorge Gomes, an aspiring athlete from the favelas.
What went largely unreported at the time was that Candelaria had been the site where a number of homeless people, including children, had been killed in an attack reputedly by members of the police.
The Flame for Tokyo 2020 had already burned longer than any in history by the time the cauldron was lit by Naomi Osaka in July 2021.
It was designed by Oki Sato, who in an elegant piece of Olympic symmetry, had attended the same university as Yoshinori Sakai, the teenager who lit the 1964 Flame.
Although no spectators were allowed in the venues, Tokyo citizens were at least permitted to see the Olympic Flame which burned on the waterfront.
In the small hours of the morning, 2016 badminton women’s doubles gold medallist Ayaka Takahashi, ignited an almost identical bowl at the Ariake Yume-no-Ohashi Bridge on the waterfront.
It seems almost certain that the cauldron designed for 2024 will differ from the receptacle in which the Flame burned last year in Beijing.
This resembled a giant mobile and in a variant of the idea of London 2012, it was constructed from the name placards which introduced each of the competing teams.
There are no comments published yet.