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London 2012 Olympic Cauldron...


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If I were the organisers, I would get out some of those community cauldrons that they lit at the end of each torch relay day, put them at various locations in the Olympic Park and light them. Yes, it would be a weak solution but at least it would give visitors the chance to get a picture of the Olympic Flame.

Not a bad idea, but they could make the flame a bit TOO accessible. They would have to be fenced off somehow.

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Not a bad idea, but they could make the flame a bit TOO accessible. They would have to be fenced off somehow.

Sure.

But the main problem is actually that they needed gas pipes all over the park to make that possible. Or even if they wanted to place just one community cauldron in the park, they would have to find a place where a gas pipe is and dug a hole there first to establish a connection.

So it's a very unrealistic scenario.

The other alternative (although it's hardly convincing as well) is that they display the Olympic Flame permanently on screens throughout the park or even at more distant venues.

All in all, this is very unsatisfying. I hope that the organisers realise that they made a mistake - just like Vancouver's organisers did during their Games regarding the fence around the cauldron. And they will also regret that they won't have a cauldron to display after the Games that would have created a lot more touristic attention for the Olympic Park in the future. London is a three-time Olympic host, and all it will have to display is that tiny 1948 cauldron at Wembley Stadium.

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I couldn't care less about the height of the cauldron. I'm disappointed at the choice of final torchbearers and that there was no attempt to devise a way for it to "move" from the center and go towards the Glastonbury Tor where it would remain for the remainder of the games.

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I love the cauldron design and idea behind it. If something can be improved, is the intensity of the flame. It looks kinda odd the flame burns and move on top, almost like the flame of a gas stove. Prefer it to he more natural, big waving flame like in Athens and Sydney. Perhaps each petal's flame is thinner so all 204 of them ate distinguishable?

Still a massive massive misstep and shame the cauldron is MIA for one week, and then only to be seen by paying spectators. This really has gotta go down as the worst decision made by LOCOG or even Heatherwick if he is the one insisted and persuaded them of this cauldron design and approach (with his whole not trying to be bigger, fatter BS). This is about being accessible to all, not to compete. It has to be tall, accept that fact.

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Interesting new articles about the cauldron. There apparently was a glitch when they tested the cauldron on early Thursday morning - although I'd call it only a minor glitch (or, since it involves one of the petals, a "mini-Vancouver" ;)):

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/olympics/4460665/3am-glitch-hit-Olympics-showbut-alight-on-the-night.html

Steve Redgrave is slightly disappointed that he couldn't light the cauldron:

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2012/07/29/redgrave-disappointed-over-flame-84229-31499288/

And here it is finally confirmed that the cauldron was approved by David Cameron. It also contains interesting new details about the cauldron's development:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180217/Burning-green-Unique-design-Olympic-cauldron-help-make-carbon-neutral.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Further details, including quotes from the manager of the Australian company that built the cauldron:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19028963

And another article, with a video of Thomas Heatherwick explaining the design:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/london-2012/9435127/London-2012-Olympics-Secrets-of-a-world-dazzling-cauldron.html

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From the article

Thomas Heatherwick said

he was pleasantly surprised when the idea to have 204 separate petals come together to form one giant flame got the go-ahead from a range of officials including Prime minister David Cameron and London 2012 chairman Lord Coe.

LOL I was half joking, and it turned out to be true.

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I only started to realise there is a kid for every team carrying the petal halfway through the ceremony. Did they explain who and what the petals are for in the TV broadcast? I keep trying to figure what those shiny things are from my seat, but at so far up I can't work out what are those. Only see the kids carrying the petal disappear behind the Tor. However, I have pretty good idea the cauldron will be at the middle of the field during the parade when they covered it with black cloth. I know it's not going to be at the Tor since they planted it full of flags already. My other guess is the bell stage will transform or open up to reveal the cauldron, or the water mill will transform.

Funny how during the parade, we went down to get some drinks and deliberately not looking around the concourse too far to avoid catching any glimpse of a possible tall cauldron tower being raised up getting ready for the lighting :)

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Yes, Kevzz, at least the German commentator said it immediately at the start of the parade that those copper petals carried by the children will later play a role in the cauldron lighting. Then I suddenly realised that the opening ceremony ticket design will really become the cauldron. ;)

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Actually from TV you can see each kid followed the flag up to the Tor and holds up each pedal for display for a moment on the Tor. I thought it was Greek ceremony bowl that I didn't know of until I read it on here that it's part of the cauldron.

OSB has news from London program and they just had a report on the status of the Olympic Stadium. They are tearing down everything in prep for the athletics including the Tor. The cauldron is still in the center lit, with all the construction going on. Kind of a sad scene actually, that no one outside the stadium could see it.

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Olympic flame is burning issue for IOC

By Kelly Whiteside, and Kevin Johnson

The cauldron bearing the Olympic flame is tucked away in Olympic Stadium, viewable only to those who have tickets to track and field events. As a result, London Olympic organizers have come under, well, fire from fans longing to get a glimpse (and a photo) of the Olympics' most iconic symbol.

London Olympic chief Sebastian Coe said Sunday the cauldron "wasn't created as a tourist attraction" and would remain in Olympic Stadium.

Coe said the cauldron was created in the tradition of the London Games in 1948, when the cauldron and flame also resided inside the stadium with the spectators and athletes.

"We are different from Vancouver," Coe said, referring to the 2010 Winter Games where organizers created two cauldrons — one at the ceremonial arena and another in a public park along the waterfront, which quickly became a popular attraction.

Coe said visitors who don't have access to London's stadium would be able to see the flame on video screens in Olympic Park.

...

http://www.usatoday....-ioc/56572440/1

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I wasn't a fan at all of the two cauldron solution in Vancouver but think it would be an appropriate compromise here. Really not liking it being tucked away in the middle of the stadium. It wouldn't be so bad if it had been on some sort of hydraulic platform so it could be raised above the roof of the stadium in week one before settling into position in the stadium.

I guess to that after the athletics it'll probably return to the centre.

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I am curious...am I the only one that is really let down by the cauldron placement? I really like everything else about it, it just really upset me that no one can see the cauldron right now. And in regards to Lord Coe's comments, the cauldron is not a "tourist" destination, it should be a world heritage destination. I am part of one of those 204 nations, I financially and emotionally support my nation's athletes. T he Olympics belong to the athletes as much as the spectators. Let's hope Rio finds the balance London could not and chose not to do. And that balance is austere yet impressive and most of all accessible to all. Elite athletes compete but the games don't have to be so elitist. What a way to inspire a generation by segregating. LOCOG and Lord Coe failed us on this. Great design and imagination, lack of respect of the movement and the spectators that fuel it.

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Am I missing something? It didn't seem like there was a "global cauldron race" until London claimed that they didn't want to be part of it.

Sydney's and Salt Lake's weren't very big. Good size if you ask me.

Athens' made a lot sense in its stadium as it was designed by the roof's architect. Very harmonious.

Torino's had to be so tall in order to be seen from inside and outside a stadium that closed throughout those Games except for the ceremonies.

Beijing's was big... but that was Beijing. And it actually didn't seem that big from outside the Bird's Nest.

Vancouver needed a second cauldron outside enclosed BC place to avoid exactly what London is going through right now. And I don't think that design was particularly excessive or unnecessarily big. Good size to be a photo backdrop.

Of course cauldrons in general have definitely become bigger and more show-y since decades ago, but so have the Games at large.

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“With the technology we now have that didn’t exist at the time it can be shared with everyone in the park with screens,” Heatherwick said. “We felt that sharing it with the screens reinforces the intimacy.”

Another gem...

Before arriving for the opening ceremony, the flame had traveled across the U.K. in a 70-day torch relay covering 8,000 miles. Organizers said that public exposure — 15 million Britons have seen it — was more important than showing it off in a park. -Washington Post

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I tend to agree with the public who are disappointed that, short of a ceremony or athletics ticket, you cannot see the cauldron in person. That, honestly, seems to be the only failure in the imagination of the cauldron. That and it not visibly moving to its final spot during TE ceremony.

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“With the technology we now have that didn’t exist at the time it can be shared with everyone in the park with screens,” Heatherwick said. “We felt that sharing it with the screens reinforces the intimacy.”

Another gem...

Before arriving for the opening ceremony, the flame had traveled across the U.K. in a 70-day torch relay covering 8,000 miles. Organizers said that public exposure — 15 million Britons have seen it — was more important than showing it off in a park. -Washington Post

Craziness. And since when are screens more intimate? This was just a bad decision.

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Why couldn't they have 2 additional outdoor cauldrons? Representing the past 2 Olympics London had hosted of course, located at Wembley and White City?

These could have easily have been lit, during the ceremony and looked similar to the one shown in the ceremony.

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