OLYMPIC GAMES
How will the Olympic flame be lit during the opening ceremony at Paris 2024?
One of the most symbolic moments of the Games is when the the Olympic flame is lit. The flame burns for the duration of the event from today’s opening ceremony to the closing one on 11 August.
The Olympic torch reaches its final destination this evening, carried along the banks of the River Seine where 10,500 athletes will gather ahead of the Opening Ceremony. It will be the finishing point of a lengthy journey, which began back on 8 May, with the flame visiting some of France’s best-known and loved landmarks - up the narrow, winding streets of Mont Saint-Michel, deep into the Lascaux caves and to the Palace of Versailles.
Helping it makes its way across the country, from north-south, east to west, were 11,000 torchbearers - most of them from the host nation but some illustrious guests helped the Olympic flame on its journey, including Halle Berry, Salma Hayek, Snoop Doggy Dog and even royalty, with Monaco’s Prince Albert II carrying it for one leg of the relay.
The lighting of the Olympic flame is a highly symbolic moment that has been a tradition of the summer showpiece since the Berlin Games in 1936. The flame not only represents the positive values that man has always associated with the symbolism of fire, such as peace and friendship, but also serves as a link bridging the ancient and modern Games.
How is the Olympic flame lit?
The Paris 2024 Olympic flame was lit during a ceremony in Olympia, Greece - the birthplace of the ancient Olympics, in a highly symbolic ceremony on 16 April. The science behind igniting the flame was also a nod to the ancient past. Actress Mary Mina took the role of Apollo, the head priestess who lit the flame by holding a fuel-filled torch to a parabolic mirror. The sun’s rays concentrate heat to start a fire.
The ritual echoed the 1936 Berlin Games with the priestesses wearing traditional Hellenic costumes - this time, black and white dresses instead of the usual monochromatic white/light blue costumes worn in the past.
The Olympic flame made its first appearance of the modern era at Amsterdam 1928, where it was lit atop a tower overlooking the Olympic Stadium. It also made an appearance at Los Angeles 1932 and became a permanent, symbolic part of the Games four years later in Berlin.