Oly Fan Survey: Summer Cauldrons

[aismanggo]

really love athens cauldron which i thought they will go for traditional design but they went for futuristic minimalist cauldron!love it!and for lighting i vote for sydney,those are awe inspiring moment went they really do something unexpected when the fire touch the water and all of sudden the cauldron rise from the ground..

[Palette86]

1992 Baecelona.
+
Other.20XX Tokyo.

[yoshi]

YOSHIII! That's a great pic, the top one

[runningrings]

Favourite cauldron: Athens 2004.

Honourable mention to Barcelona 1992, Los Angeles 1984, Munich 1972 and Toyko 1964.

___________

Favourite lighting: Barcelona 1992.

Honourable mention to London 2012, Athens 2004 (best music), Sydney 2000 and Los Angeles 1984.

[olympiaki-agones]

Favourite cauldron: Athens 2004.

Honourable mention to Barcelona 1992, Los Angeles 1984, Munich 1972 and Toyko 1964.

___________

Favourite lighting: Barcelona 1992.

Honourable mention to London 2012, Athens 2004 (best music), Sydney 2000 and Los Angeles 1984.

As you said, Athens used great music to light the cauldron! Evidently seen in Barcelona, Sydney and Sochi and that's why I got excited in each. Do you think Rio will be dramatic and emotional lighting as well?

[baron-pierreIV]

Look what I found...the 1st prototype for what should've been the Sydney 2000 cauldron...

[runningrings]

Looks like the engine from a commercial airliner...

Seattle should keep this one in mind for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

[Alexjc]

It was LA that set off the "I bet I can light the flame more spectacularly than you did" competition. Everyone after had to find different ways to light the cauldron up after that. London sort of brought it back to a more sensible moment...but then Sochi set it off again.

[mr.bernham]

It was LA that set off the "I bet I can light the flame more spectacularly than you did" competition. Everyone after had to find different ways to light the cauldron up after that. London sort of brought it back to a more sensible moment...but then Sochi set it off again.

Nah, Sochi's was really bad.

[baron-pierreIV]

It was LA that set off the "I bet I can light the flame more spectacularly than you did" competition. Everyone after had to find different ways to light the cauldron up after that. London sort of brought it back to a more sensible moment...but then Sochi set it off again.

No, it was not. It was the commies in Moscow -- with their overhead-handheld-human bridge. LA just used an existing cauldron and a $35,000 hydraulic staircase for Rafer Johson.

[runningrings]

To a lesser extent you could call the Lake Placid 1980 cauldron significant, in terms of technology used - there had been nothing like it before (summer or winter).

[baron-pierreIV]

To a lesser extent you could call the Lake Placid 1980 cauldron significant, in terms of technology used - there had been nothing like it before (summer or winter).

Indeed, as the Director of Ceremonies pointed out to me, it was the first cauldron with movement. But still, it was rather simple.

[Alexjc]

I suppose it all goes down to viewer impact?

Atlanta just looked cheap, and then Sydney almost overdid it? The potential for something to go wrong...

[JMarkSnow2012]

I suppose it all goes down to viewer impact?

Atlanta just looked cheap, and then Sydney almost overdid it? The potential for something to go wrong...

The more I watch the Sydney cauldron lighting, the more I find myself thinking of the Thunderbirds launch sequence I posted a while back. It would have meant something if Woomera had been a space launch site, but without that connection, it was just hubristically OTT.

[runningrings]

It looks OTT through the eyes of people in 2014 - but remembering that it was conceived in the 1990s I think its a product of the era. It was industrial and ambitious, and had a lot of water - very Australian. Despite this defence - I do think that it probably had one too many elements - which was its own undoing - much like Vancouver. However the big reveal of Sydney's cauldron was one of the biggest surprises in ceremony history - not really beaten until London.

The one unsung aspect of Sydney - which might be purely coincidental or it may not be - is how for about a minute once it had reached the pinnacle (and before rising to its final height) it bear an uncanny resemblance to Melbourne's 1956 cauldron - both which seem to be both modernist and harking back to the cauldrons of ancient Rome or Greece.

[baron-pierreIV]

/\/\ Well, a lot of the cauldrons of most of the 2nd half of the 20th century had that saucer-like look. At one point for 1984, they were even going to add a shallow dish to the LA Memorial Coliseum cauldron...just to make it look like a 'normal' cauldron. The Art Director for LA 1984 even sent me (a copy of) his original conception. (It's in my book, page 105).

[JMarkSnow2012]

It looks OTT through the eyes of people in 2014 - but remembering that it was conceived in the 1990s I think its a product of the era. It was industrial and ambitious, and had a lot of water - very Australian. Despite this defence - I do think that it probably had one too many elements - which was its own undoing - much like Vancouver. However the big reveal of Sydney's cauldron was one of the biggest surprises in ceremony history - not really beaten until London.

It wasn't just that the reveal was a big surprise- it was genuinely inspiring. The subsequent track climb was a triumphalist gimmick.