The Olympic flame isn't actually fire. So what is it?
Before this year, the Olympic cauldron always sat on the ground as real fire burned inside it during the games.
But when the sun goes down over the 2024 Paris Olympics, the iconic cauldron rises around 200 feet in the air for all to see. What looks like a ring of fire is lifted by a balloon that looks like a hot air balloon.
But the “ring of fire” isn’t actually burning – it’s an illusion made up of clouds of mist and beams of light.
Mathieu Lehanneur designed the Olympic cauldron and torch for the Paris Olympics. Lehanneur said his goal was to create an Olympic cauldron that would be as open, visible, and generous as possible.
“The idea of creating a balloon able to go from the ground to the air between the day and the night might be a good option,” he said in an interview with NPR’s Morning Edition.
France’s history with flight inspired the eco-friendly design.
The first hot air balloon carrying a human flew in Paris on November 21, 1783. About a week later, the first manned hydrogen balloon flight took off at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris – the same place the Olympic cauldron is today.
Lehanneur said it probably wouldn’t be safe to get a real flame up to 200 feet high, because it would require pipes feeding gas or another combustible to fuel the fire.
“Thanks to this system, it helps us and basically it creates an amazing effect by creating this strong light and foggy and moist effect around the flame,” said Lehanneur.
The flameless design is also better for the environment than an actual fire. One of the goals of the Paris Olympics is to halve the carbon footprint of the Games compared with the average of London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Lehanneur said if a real flame was used for the balloon, you’d have to use a high quantity of gas. And because the flame combusts, it creates CO2.
“So we wanted to avoid [creating] this combustion. In order to not bring more pollution and global warming,” he said.
The cauldron has become a big tourist attraction in Paris.
Some 10,000 people get free tickets to see the cauldron go into the air every night – and tickets are completely sold out through the games.
NPR spoke to some of the people who went to watch the cauldron at sundown.
“It’s quite wonderful,” said Chris Sirac from southern France. “The moment it rises into the sky with the Eiffel Tower flashing it’s really emotional.
Julie Jung from Paris said “Really nice to see and really beautiful, really glad the Olympics are in Paris and we are proud of being French.”
Lehanneur was not expecting the overwhelming positive response.
“In France, French people are never happy. We are living in an amazing country, but we are never happy,” he said. “It’s quite rare that all the feedback I received, that people said we are super proud of it and we want to keep it.”
There is a chance the Olympic cauldron could be here to stay. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told France Bleu radio that she hopes the cauldron finds a permanent home in the city after the games.
Fatima Al-Kassab contributed reporting from Paris. This article was edited by Obed Manuel.
