Paris Olympics 2024: The Olympic flame is made out of water, not fire

All is not what it seems with this Games’ flame. Photo / Getty Images

In a bid to stage the greenest Games ever, Paris 2024 organisers create “environmentally responsible” symbol for the two weeks.

It was billed as the most revolutionary opening ceremony ever but Friday night’s party in Paris saved its most astounding feat for last: an environmentally sound Olympic water-based “flame” which is safe for anyone to touch.

When Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner performed the traditional role of transferring the torch-based flame to the Olympic cauldron there were gasps of delight and applause. A circle of fire ignited beneath a hot air balloon which slowly rose into the night sky above the French capital. Yet all is not what it seems with this Games’ flame.

The “fire” beneath the cauldron is in fact 40 electrically-powered LED spotlights and 200 high-pressure misting nozzles, which combine to give a convincing illusion of a traditional flame. Paris has aimed to deliver the greenest Games ever, and has highlighted that the cauldron’s flame is usually reliant on fossil fuels.

“We wanted the cauldron to use a new technology in order to not produce too many emissions,” said Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris 2024 organising committee. “We were ambitious and we wanted to bring together something spectacular and environmental responsibility at the same time.”

During the day the flame and balloon are grounded at the Tuileries Garden, allowing 10,000 ticket-holding visitors to witness it at close quarters. At nightfall the balloon rises into the air again, hovering 30m above its moorings.

“This absolutely unique cauldron represents all the spirit I wanted to give to the Olympic and Paralympic objects,” said its designer Mathieu Lehanneur.

“Light, magical and unifying, it will be a beacon in the night and a sun within reach during the day. The fire that burns in it will be made of light and water, like a cool oasis in the heart of summer”.

At nightfall, the balloon hovers 30m into the air again. Photo / Getty Images

Yet the lack of a true flame may be disappointing to traditionalists. Months before each Games the flame is lit at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece, using the light of the sun and a parabolic mirror. It is transmitted via torches in a relay before arriving towards the end of most opening ceremonies and being used to ignite a cauldron which burns for the duration of the event before being extinguished during the closing ceremony.

Organisers of this Games argue that the flame is symbolic, and they will keep a conventional lit lantern close to the cauldron. “For the Olympic movement, only the symbol of a Flame that does not go out before the end of the Games matters,” said a spokesperson from Paris 2024.

“This flame is the true Olympic Flame, in the wake of the lighting ceremony in Olympia and of the Olympic Torch Relay throughout France.

“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.”

The sanctity of the Olympic flame has been challenged before. In 1976 the flame was “transformed” into a radio signal and broadcast from Europe to Ottawa. A heat sensor detected the flame, sent it via satellite to Canada where it was used to trigger a laser which lit a flame.