The Olympic Flame Trivia
The idea of an Olympic Flame burning from the start of the games to the closing was first introduced in 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, where a fire was lit in the tower of the stadium, though no torch relay was undertaken. The first torch relay was conducted for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. See more about the Torch Relay and Olympic Torches.
The unique Paris 2024 Cauldron Flame Trivia
- There was no Olympic flame in the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. The first time a flame made an appearance at the modern Olympics was in 1928.
- The flame is currently lit in Olympia by women dressed in ancient-style robes, resembling those worn in ancient times, and using a curved mirror and the sun.
- The first person to light the Olympic Flame was German middle-distance runner Fritz Schligen at Berlin in 1936.
- The torchbearer for the 1956 Olympics was a virtually unknown 19 year old at the time he carried the torch into the stadium at Melbourne. Ron Clarke went on to become the world's finest distance runner in the 1960s.
- The equestrian events of the 1956 Olympic Games were not held in Melbourne, but Stockholm. For this competition, a flame was also brought from Olympia in Greece, there was a lighting ceremony and a flame left burning for the duration of the competition at the stadium. Swedish equestrian Hans Wikne lit the cauldron, the first time it had been lit on horseback.
- The Japanese torchbearer who lit the flame at Tokyo in 1964, Yoshinori Sakai, was born in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped.
- In 1968, Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron at the Olympic Games in Mexico City.
- After a rainstorm put out the Olympic flame during the 1976 Games in Montreal, a well intended official quickly re-lit it with his cigarette lighter. It was quickly put out again and correctly re-lit it with a backup torch lit from the original flame.
- In 1996, ex-boxer Muhammad Ali jogged the final leg of the relay to light the cauldron at the start of the Games.
- In Sydney 2000, Australian Aboriginal Cathy Freeman lit the cauldron at the start of the Games, and went on to win the 400m race. She is the only person to light the Olympic Flame and win a gold medal at the same Games.
- In Tokyo, there were two cauldrons, a symbolic one in the stadium which will be lit at the opening ceremony, and another on the waterfront which will burn for the duration of the Games.
- The large floating balloon cauldron of the Paris Olympics was not actually alight. What looked like a flame was actually an eco-friendly illusion made up of clouds of mist and beams of light.
Related Pages
- All About the Olympic Flame
- Flames of the Future — innovative ideas for future Olympic Games flames
- All Olympic Cauldrons
- About the Olympic Torch and Torch Relay
- Olympic Stadiums
- Other Olympic Traditions
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