On Friday, July 26 at 11:24 p.m., Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner lit the cauldron for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the end of an exceptional opening ceremony. Designed by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur, the Paris 2024 cauldron is out of the ordinary. This giant ring of fire topped with a monumental balloon flew into the sky of Paris. For the first time in the history of the Games, the Olympic flame will shine without fuel, thanks to EDF. Starting tomorrow, Saturday, July 27, the public will be able to get up close to this spectacular object via free online ticketing.
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MARIE-JOSÉ PEREC AND TEDDY RINER LIGHT THE CAULDRON BEFORE IT FLYS AWAY TO SHINE IN THE PARIS SKY
At the end of a final collective relay bringing together legends of French and world sport, Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner crossed the large water basin in the Tuileries Gardens to set it on fire. A cauldron never seen before in the history of the Games. French designer Mathieu Lehanneur has imagined a new generation hot air balloon that carries a ring of fire with it.
Placed on the ground during the day, the Chaudron will fly into the Paris sky every evening at sunset. Both monumental and luminous, it will be visible from hundreds of meters away, in full view of all.
THE CAULDRON IN THE HEART OF THE CITY DURING THE DAY, TO BE VISIBLE TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE
One of the most beautiful views of Paris has changed. With the help of the Louvre, Paris 2024 has chosen to install the Olympic cauldron in the Tuileries Gardensin the fabulous alignment of the Louvre and its Pyramid, the obelisk of the Concorde and the Champs-Elysées dominated by the Arc de Triomphe.
True to the “Games Wide Open” spirit, Paris 2024 will offer the public the chance to discover the cauldron up close via free ticketing. Starting tomorrow, Saturday, July 27, and every day during the Games, 10,000 people will be able to approach the Basin, at a rate of 300 entries every quarter of an hour. This opening of the Tuileries Garden from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a gauge set at 3,000 people simultaneously, puts the Basin within reach of the public during the day before it returns to the Paris sky at nightfall.
WITH EDF, A HOT FLAME WITHOUT FUEL
For the first time in the history of the Games, The Olympic flame will shine without fuel thanks to EDF, Premium Partner of Paris 2024. A meticulous blend of mist and beams of light, the Olympic flame will flicker using only electricity as its energy source. As part of its partnership with Paris 2024, EDF is providing 100% renewable electricity produced in France to power the Games sites, which now include the cauldron.
Visible and warm, this Flame is also a technical feat. The ring of fire, almost 7 metres in diameter, incorporates 40 LED spotlights to illuminate the cloud created by 200 high-pressure misting nozzles. Above all, EDF has managed to guarantee the flow of electricity and water 60 metres above the ground, when the Chaudron is in flight.
THE LAST OBJECT OF THE OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY
The Torch, the Relay cauldron and the Olympic cauldron are the three objects imagined by Mathieu Lehanneur for the Olympic Flame epic. With a resolutely innovative design, these objects share the same metallic shade, the result of the mixture of gold, silver and bronze medals.
By lighting the cauldron, Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner launched the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and concluded the torch relaywhich generated enthusiasm for the Games throughout France, still palpable during the opening ceremony.
While the symmetry of the Torch symbolizes Equalityrelay cauldronwith its pure, circular ring, symbolizes Fraternity. All that was missing was Freedom to complete the national motto. Between earth and sky, the Flying Pig of Paris 2024 Cauldron is the perfect representation of this.
AN EXTENSION OF THE FRENCH HISTORY OF THE FIRST FLIGHTS
The Paris 2024 Olympic cauldron is part of the long history of Icarus’ dream. It was in Paris, in 1783, that the very first flight in the history of humanity took place.The scientist Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes take flight thanks to the research of the Montgolfier brothers.
In France too, while the Montgolfiers were developing their hot air balloons in a rather empirical manner, the physicist Jacques Charles invented the gas balloonfilled with hydrogen. A more powerful, safer and more sophisticated balloon, it took off a few days after Pilâtre de Rozier’s flight, from the same place in the Tuileries Garden, in front of 400,000 astonished people.
One hundred years after the first hot air balloon adventure, in 1878it was once again at the Tuileries that a French engineer, Henri Giffard, invented the captive balloonconsisting of a gas balloon and a steam winch, which was to be a resounding success.
At the Tuileries Garden, in the heart of the Louvre, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Cauldron is also part of the great history of hot air ballooning in Paris.
“The lighting of the Cauldron is always a highlight of the Games, as it marks the start of the Games. At Paris 2024, we were once again very inspired, and with Mathieu Lehanneur, we wanted to take the concept even further. With a Flying Cauldron, we wanted to pay tribute to the spirit of audacity, creativity, innovation – and sometimes madness! – of France, at the heart of the DNA of Paris 2024. The Cauldron is also the symbol of our slogan: Games Wide Open. Located in the heart of the city, in the Tuileries Garden, a stone’s throw from the Seine for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, and at the bottom of the Champs-Elysées and the Place de la Concorde for the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games, it will also be visible to the public thanks to a free ticketing system. We can’t wait to show it to you!” Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024
“This absolutely unique cauldron represents all the spirit that I wanted to give to the Olympic and Paralympic objects. Light, magical and unifying, it will be a beacon in the night and a sun within reach during the day. The fire that will burn there will be made of light and water, like an oasis of freshness in the heart of summer. I created the Torch, the Relay cauldron and the Olympic cauldron as three chapters of the same story. The cauldron is the epilogue and the ultimate symbol.” Mathieu Lehanneur, designer of the cauldron for the Paris 2020 Olympic Games
“Thanks to an innovation from EDF, the Paris 2024 cauldron will shine for the first time with a 100% electric flame. This “electric revolution” was made possible thanks to the monumental work carried out by our teams and designer Mathieu Lehanneur. Their creativity and innovative strength made it possible to design a flame without the combustion of fossil fuels, a flame made of water and light. The future is electric and the EDF teams are proud to have made history by helping to make Paris 2024 a more sustainable and responsible Games.” Luc Rémont, Chairman and CEO of EDF
“The Tuileries Garden is a place that is largely open to the city. The largest green space in the heart of Paris, it is also, with nearly 14 million visitors per year, the most visited park. The atypical shape of this water basin resonates magnificently with the history of the national domain of the Louvre, on which balloons have left their mark since 1783: a place of technological innovation, a place of history and images, a place of entertainment for the people.” Laurence des Cars, President and CEO of the Louvre
Press contacts
Paris 2024: media@paris2024.org
Mathieu Lehanneur: Press@mathieulehanneur.com
FED: Press-service@edf.fr
Shutter: presselouvrejop@louvre.fr