After watching a slew of Olympians – and Snoop Dog – carry the Olympic torch to it’s final destination, fans are up in arms after finding out that not everything is as it seems
The Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony certainly became a talking point for all the wrong reasons.
Fans were up in arms over the Last Supper parody, the naked singer and the sheer volume of rain that dampened the spectacular. However, one of the highlights for many was the poignant lighting of the Olympic torch for the 2024 games.
The enormous fire was lit by French Olympic gold medalists Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner as they followed the tradition of transferring the torch flame to the Olympic cauldron. It was then pulled up by a hot air balloon and rose into the Parisian night sky, creating a beautiful display.
However, people have been left stunned to find out it wasn’t actually a fire.
Indeed, it turns out that the apparent blazing flame is actually 100% electric and was created using 40 LED lights with water mist as part of Paris’ admirable bid to have the “greenest Olympic games” in history.
However, the good deed has gone viral, with fans voicing a bitter sense of betrayal. One fan took to X to share their dismay and said: “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. THAT BEING SAID not even carrying a flame makes it the worst Olympic cauldron of all time.”
“Just found out that the Olympic flame isn’t even a ‘flame’ but a fake electric fire. Sort of defeats the object of carrying it all the way from Athens in my opinion,” another fan penned on X.
A third said: “Congrats to France… for making the Olympics opening ceremony the most woke, most cringe one I’ve ever seen. Disgusting.. Oh, and their Olympic flame is FAKE.. It’s just lights and water vapour because they said it’s ‘better for the environment’. Ugh.”
Traditionally, the Olympic torch flame is lit in Olympia, Greece, and carried in a relay until it arrives at the opening ceremony, where it’s used to light the cauldron. The cauldron will burn until the end of the Games and will be extinguished – or in this case, switched off – at the closing ceremony.
But the Paris organisers have fiercely defended the decision to use a fake flame and said it still holds the symbolic meaning – whether real or fake.
A spokesperson for the Games told The Telegraph: “For the Olympic movement, only the symbol of a Flame that does not go out before the end of the Games matters. 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 “fake” flame will be lit and the balloon will rise into the air, hovering around the French capital for the duration of the games at night.
The controversial opening ceremony angered many viewers, with some branding the show as being “disrespectful” to Christianity due to the parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting.
The segment of the show, which resembled the biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion featured drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine Dionysus.
Organisers apologised on Sunday to Catholics and other Christian groups. “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. (The opening ceremony) tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a press conference according to Reuters. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence we are really sorry.”
However, Thomas Jolly, the artistic director behind the jaw-dropping opening ceremony, defended his choices and said it hadn’t been inspired by “The Last Supper” and depicted a pagan feast linked to the gods of Olympus.
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