45 replies to this topic

[ceezeelee]

Very true baron.

One thing that always has been a powerful connector that links the Opening Ceremony to the Closing in any 'Games of the Olympiad' is the way the flame burns high above the Olympic Stadium and in the heart of the Olympic Park.

The flame is often forgotten after Day 0, in the first few days of competition when all eyes are on the swimming pool and gymnasium, but by the time the catalyst and interest in the games catches on around the world, day 5 or 6 begins, and Athletics starts and yay!... we can see that huge flame once again burning quietly in the background - as Athletes do their high jumps, as tears stream down their faces during the victory ceremonies. I always found that to be a powerful symbol of how a ceremonial object had so much meaning and evocation, so much so that it justified the elaborate 4 hour ceremony that lead to it's ignition. Athletics is pretty much the 'flagship' event of the Summer Olympics - and the stadium is always the 'flagship' venue of any Olympic Park. It is fitting the flame crowns such a venue and in the case of the Summer edition, the venue's setting works perfectly - Sport vs. Ceremony vs. Spectacle.

However, that power of the Flame has never occurred in any winter games as the stadium is not used for any competition. At best the flame burns majestically to an empty stadium, at worst, you get the blunder of Vancouver's ambiguous 'multiple flames'. The spread out nature of competition venues and lack of a centralized olympic park also prevents this "festival like" atmosphere which we have seen so powerfully happen along famous olympic boulevards in Sydney, Athens, Beijing, where 24 hours a day, hundreds of thousands of people just walk and take in the sights. But the main point is, the power of the flame is pretty much lost in the winter edition.

Again never knew why they did a double flame thing for Vancouver's OC / CC and the Whistler 'mini' flame? It was awfully confusing and diminished the power of a core/ central visual symbol.

Also concerned about how Rio 2016's flame will fare as it will be burning in an empty stadium as Athletics is in a different venue? Very strange, not a good thing IMO!

[baron-pierreIV]

Changzhi Lee, on 29 May 2010 - 07:08 PM, said:

However, that power of the Flame has never occurred in any winter games as the stadium is not used for any competition.

Actually, I think Cortina's Ceremony stadium was used for the figure skating and speed skating events. (I think.)

But I know Squaw Valley 1960 for certain that the cauldron was just outside the Blythe (semi-indoor) Arena where figure skating and the hockey matches were held. So the flame was a witness to those competitions.

Squaw Valley: http://www.youtube.c...feature=related (at the 1:10 point, far right)

And then for the two Innsbruck Games' and Lillehammer 1994, the main cauldrons were at the ski jump bowls, so those cauldrons again did see partial action as part of a competition.

Edited by baron-pierreIV, 29 May 2010 - 07:48 PM.

[ceezeelee]

wow you are right!

But never in recent memory at least since I was born... oh actually i was 5 years old by Lillehammer

Even then, not on the scale of the Summer games.

But it would be nice to see if Rio at least considers this 'problem' for their games. Are the two stadiums far apart from each other?

[Olympian2004]

baron-pierreIV, on 29 May 2010 - 07:29 PM, said:

Actually, I think Cortina's Ceremony stadium was used for the figure skating and speed skating events. (I think.)

But I know Squaw Valley 1960 for certain that the cauldron was just outside the Blythe (semi-indoor) Arena where figure skating and the hockey matches were held. So the flame was a witness to those competitions.

Squaw Valley: http://www.youtube.c...feature=related (at the 1:10 point, far right)

And then for the two Innsbruck Games' and Lillehammer 1994, the main cauldrons were at the ski jump bowls, so those cauldrons again did see partial action as part of a competition.

In Oslo in 1952 and in Sapporo in 1972, the cauldron was located at the speed skating rinks (Bislett respectively Makomanai Stadium).

And I believe that the Olympic Flame of Garmisch-Partenkirchen was located pretty near to the ski hill as well.

So of all 17 Winter Games which had a cauldron, only nine (Grenoble, Lake Placid, Sarajevo, Calgary, Albertville, Nagano, Salt Lake City, Torino, Vancouver) had their cauldron outside of the view of the event spectators. Actually, one can also scrap Albertville out of this list since it had secondary cauldrons at least at each outdoor venue, I believe.

[baron-pierreIV]

Olympian2004, on 30 May 2010 - 06:05 AM, said:

Nagano...Actually, one can also scrap Albertville out of this list since it had secondary cauldrons at least at each outdoor venue, I believe.

Nagano had secondary cauldrons at 5 of the far-flung venues with fire from the original mother Olympia flame.

[SkiFreak]

baron-pierreIV, on 30 May 2010 - 10:24 AM, said:

Nagano had secondary cauldrons at 5 of the far-flung venues with fire from the original mother Olympia flame.

Calgary also had a few of the small cauldrons at venues. There's one outside the oval - which they light-up every year for grad ceremonies at the University. There's one at Olympic Park. And there's one at the Nordic Centre in Canmore. The one at McMahon stadium is still there, at least I think I spotted it last time I drove by.