It must burn for 80 days. To shine throughout its journey, the Olympic flame is kept in several lanterns and will sleep with “guardians”, “nannies” who make sure nothing happens to it.
What if the flame goes out? “There are several emergency lanterns so that, if there is a problem, it is always the emanation of the flame from Olympia”, explains Grégory Murac, deputy director of the torch relay on the organizing committee of the Paris Olympics (Cojo). This also explains why it can multiply, even if it is “never visible on the torch in two different places”.
To go to Polynesia for example, one lantern will take the plane while another will be on the way on the Maxi Banque Populaire XI trimaran to reach Guadeloupe and Martinique. “We always have emergency solutions”, sums up the Cojo.
Once lit, the flame will burn with “bio-based gas”, the organizing committee told AFP.
Be that as it may, the flame will always be under good escort. In addition to the “bubble” of police officers who ensure its safety, “there is a whole team of guardians of the flame”, that is to say about ten people whose sole function is to ensure that it is always lit“ , explains Grégory Murac. They are responsible for example in the morning to entrust it to the first torchbearer of the day, then to recover it.
These “nannies” of the flame were selected through a competition between several administrations, including the armies, the police, the gendarmerie, etc.
“They keep it with them in the first sense of the term”, sums up the Cojo. If ever the torch were to go out, they can intervene. And »they sleep with«, he says again. The torches, manufactured by Arcelor-Mittal and whose design is not disclosed, are normally designed to withstand wind and rain.
According to the charter of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), at night the flame “is kept in a special basin”.
The first relay in Olympic history took place for the Berlin Olympics in 1936, the Games organized in honor of Nazism.
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