Fans Outraged To Learn The Paris Olympics’ Flame Is Just LED Lights

The Olympic cauldron aka flame near Louvre Museum Olympic Games Paris 2024
The Olympic cauldron aka flame near Louvre Museum Olympic Games Paris 2024
The Olympic cauldron aka flame near Louvre Museum Olympic Games Paris 2024

Many fans have been left outraged after learning the Paris Olympics’ flame is nothing more than a bunch of LED lights and not actually created by fire.

That’s right. The Olympic “cauldron” is fueled by… electricity.

Sure, it looked like it was a real flame when French Olympic gold medalists Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner “lit” the Olympic cauldron with their torches (which were real flames), but all that really happened was someone flipped a switch and turned on the lights.

Greek City Times reports: “The base ring features 40 LED lights that illuminate a cloud of water vapor created by 200 high-pressure misting nozzles, replicating the appearance and flicker of real flames.”

Paris 2024 partner EDF supplies the electricity and water, powering the cauldron from the ground. Luc Rémont, Chairman and CEO of EDF, praised this “electric revolution,” marking the first time an Olympic flame has been entirely electric. This innovation has been achieved through the combined efforts of EDF and Lehanneur’s team.

The author of the Greek City Times article also asked, “Is this high-tech marvel a fitting evolution of the Olympic flame, or does it risk overshadowing the traditional symbolism of a real, burning flame?”

If you ask a bunch of people on social media, it appears that most of them believe it is the latter.

“I appreciated the ‘look’ that the balloon created – by it being somewhat reflective, the fake flame underneath lights it up so it has the classic look of a cauldron,” another fan commented. “THAT BEING SAID not even carrying a flame makes it the worst Olympic cauldron of all time.”

“I find it sad that it isn’t even a flame,” read another comment. “Total disrespect to the Olympic history,”

According to a New York Times report on the Paris Olympics flame, the press office for the Paris Games wrote in an email that the electric flame should be considered the “true Olympic flame.”

“For the Olympic movement, only the symbol of a flame that does not go out before the end of the Games matters,” the press office said.

However, they also added, “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.”

And they are.

The Olympic flame lantern under glass in the Tuileries Garden
The Olympic flame lantern under glass in the Tuileries Garden

“Lit in Olympia, from the sun’s rays,” a sign affixed to the display reads.

The post Fans Outraged To Learn The Paris Olympics’ Flame Is Just LED Lights appeared first on BroBible.



Fans Outraged To Learn The Paris Olympics’ Flame Is Just LED Lights
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