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The 2024 Paris Olympics will kick off on July 24 with soccer and rugby occasions. Opening ceremonies are scheduled to happen two days later. Earlier than any of that may occur, the Olympic flame must be lit. This came about at present at 4:30 a.m. ET / 1:30 a.m. PT. Should you had been sleeping, by no means worry, that’s why recordings had been invented.
Right here are some things to know in regards to the Olympic flame and how one can rewatch the ceremony.
What’s the historic significance of the Olympic flame?
The flame is a robust image representing friendship and peace. It hyperlinks the fashionable Olympic video games to their historical origins. This torch ceremony has been a part of the video games because the 1936 Berlin games.
The concepts behind the flame-lighting ceremony are even older. The flame is ignited on the very website of the primary Olympic Video games in Olympia, Greece. Hearth was essential to the traditional Greeks and used of their spiritual rituals. Through the video games, an everlasting flame was discovered on the altar devoted to the goddess Hestia. The temples of Zeus and Hera additionally obtained in on the act.
The trendy model of the flame-lighting ceremony that came about at present occurred on the ruins of a temple devoted to Hera. It featured an actress enjoying a excessive priestess who makes use of a parabolic dish (or Skaphia if you wish to hold it historical Greek) to make use of the solar to mild the flame. On a sunny day, earlier than the precise ceremony, a flame is lit utilizing this methodology as a backup for potential clouds on the massive day.
An extended journey to return
After it’s ignited, the flame is positioned in an urn, which travels to an historical stadium. The excessive priestess offers the flame and an olive department to the primary torch bearer. It’s their responsibility to verify the flame is carried to the Coubertin Grove situated on the Worldwide Olympic Academy. The flame is used to mild a monument devoted to Pierre de Coubertin.
Fittingly for this 12 months’s host, Coubertin was a French educator and historian who is taken into account the daddy of the fashionable Olympic video games. His coronary heart is actually buried on the Olympic headquarters. As soon as correct credit score is given to Coubertin, the flame is then handed to a second torch bearer, who represents the host nation of France.
After France is acknowledged, the flame will take an 11-day journey round Greece. Throughout this time it can go between 550 torch bearers chosen by the Greek Olympic Committee. The Greeks are answerable for the flame till it’s formally handed over to the French. This takes place in a ceremony on April 26 in Athens on the Panathenaic Stadium.
Afterwards, the flame can be beneath the management of the Olympic Video games Organizing Committee. It’ll keep in a single day on the French Embassy in Athens. The next day, it boards the historic Belem, a three-masted ship, and travels to Marseille, France. It’s anticipated to reach on Might 8.
I missed the ceremony. How can I see it?
You may watch a replay of the Olympic flame-lighting ceremony on Olympics.com
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