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Favorite Tourch Lighting?


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Which Olympics had the best cauldren lighting? Winter or Summer, I'm looking for the BEST ONE EVER... or the WORST one EVER...

My top three are:

1) Sydney -- rising up from the water!

2) Barcelona -- The Arrow shot!

3) Athens -- it bowing down!

I wasn't around for Montreal, but they said Via-Sattelite, that's sound pretty cool, was it lame? I would have to say Seoul would be last becuase they released doves that flew into the flame...oops.

p.s. I'm new so please forgive me if this is already a topic. If it is, please re-direct me there!

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Welcome Moonraker.

It's a perennial topic here (jeez, is it time for one of these already? _ why don't we all just put our Favourite Torch Lightings, Logos, OCs etc in our profiles and be done with it?).

But then again, I suppose we don't have a live thread now since the redesign of the site.

For the record, then, as a proud Aussie the Cathy Freeman lighting in 2000 is still the most vivid image of the Olympics for me, if not one of the geeat Olympic images of all time.

cathy%20freeman.jpg

cathyfreeman.jpg

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sydney..unforgettable..such a huge step from atlanta...in terms of the cauldron lighting...spose barcelona is up there too...

Atlanta's was pretty cool, though it was more the person lighting it rather than the way it was lit, which can also be an important factor. a lot of the summer ones have been impressive recently, though I wasn't a major fan of the one in Athens. It was ok, but I've seen better. Most of the winter ones have been pretty lame, except Lillehammer, if I remember rightly, of course. SLC was boring, but again that was more about who lit it. I HATED Torino's.

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do you have any pics of the moscow tourch lighting

you can view a clip on the official olympic site. it was pretty neat, but i think that the neat stuff really falls under the ceremony category and not so much the actual lighting.

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you can view a clip on the official olympic site. it was pretty neat, but i think that the neat stuff really falls under the ceremony category and not so much the actual lighting.

I think I watched this when I was in Saltillo, Mexico actully, they had the runner do a lap in the stadium, then the crowd held up boards, and he ran over the top of the crowd, on these boards that made a ramp, to light the torch. Is that right?

Does anyone remember the Montreal Lighting? I'll check the Montreal page at Olympic.org for some reason I think being lit from space is pretty cool.

AN INNOVATION IN THE TRANSPORT OF THE FLAME

The Olympic flame arrived by air, sent in the form of an electronic signal by a telephone cable towards a transmitter in the direction of a satellite from the Intelsat network. It was then forwarded to a receiver where the stored energy activated a laser beam which gave it back its original appearance.

from the DID YOU KNOW? part of the Montreal site at Olympics.org

ok, the actually lighting of the cauldren was done by two people, but this still sounds so fascinating! B) (but I hope it wasn't lame. <_< )

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My favourites would have to be Sydney, Barcelona and Nagano.

Sydney was technically amazing, and also tied in the fire and water theme extremely well - everything fit to the music, as it came out of the water.

Barcelona had pure drama.

Nagano was choreographed the best imo, with the unfolding fans, Midori Ito emerging out of the stand wearing traditional Japanese costume, standing almost emotionless as she was lifted up high, and then lighting the cauldron before going back down and the fans going back.

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OK -- this isn't really Torch-lighting but cauldon-lighting, and I've been hesitant to answer this because technically it isn't really correct.

#1 - My hypothetical lighting of the Athens reefer w/ Gianna doing it with a flamethrower. Absolutely jaw-dropping!!

Everything else pales in comparison.

For sheer cheesiness, it's a toss-up between Sarajevo and Nagano.

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Does anyone remember the Montreal Lighting? I'll check the Montreal page at Olympic.org for some reason I think being lit from space is pretty cool.

AN INNOVATION IN THE TRANSPORT OF THE FLAME

The Olympic flame arrived by air, sent in the form of an electronic signal by a telephone cable towards a transmitter in the direction of a satellite from the Intelsat network. It was then forwarded to a receiver where the stored energy activated a laser beam which gave it back its original appearance.

from the DID YOU KNOW? part of the Montreal site at Olympics.org

ok, the actually lighting of the cauldren was done by two people, but this still sounds so fascinating! B) (but I hope it wasn't lame. <_< )

It really wasn't lame at the time - by todays standards it would be considered so. But at the time, having two runners, representing French and English speaking Canada was considered quite exciting.

BTW - I need to add Melbourne to my list of favs. Running with a fire cracker - now that is something you don't see in today's world!

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Tourch / Cauldren Lighting. I see the difference now, and my appologies like I said I'm a little new to this. (The forum is big enough for the both favs. lol)

I guess I am just stuck on this Montreal all thing. I wish they had footage of the Digital transport of the beam or an animation of what happened. I'm a visual person!

I didn't know they were French and English speakers! That is so cool! And that really represents the Canadian Culture very well!

I think it is funny they Canada got the games during America's Bi-Centennial. We should have put together the '84 games sooner! (and Denver didn't help the cause either...Oh well.) I miss both of those games...b/c I wasn't born yet.

But I read that Montreal finally paid off the Olympic Stadium. 30 years after... yikes!

I just watched Torino's it was nicely done. I still think her setting off Fire-works that sets off the "Cauldren" was a little bit of a cop-out. And the whole thing was nicely timed to music, and it reminded me of the Effiel Tower/ Washington Mounument's Millienial Celebrations back in 2000. But non the less an impressive display of fire power!

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Tourch / Cauldren Lighting. I see the difference now, and my appologies like I said I'm a little new to this. (The forum is big enough for the both favs. lol)

I guess I am just stuck on this Montreal all thing. I wish they had footage of the Digital transport of the beam or an animation of what happened. I'm a visual person!

I didn't know they were French and English speakers! That is so cool! And that really represents the Canadian Culture very well!

I think it is funny they Canada got the games during America's Bi-Centennial. We should have put together the '84 games sooner! (and Denver didn't help the cause either...Oh well.) I miss both of those games...b/c I wasn't born yet.

But I read that Montreal finally paid off the Olympic Stadium. 30 years after... yikes!

I just watched Torino's it was nicely done. I still think her setting off Fire-works that sets off the "Cauldren" was a little bit of a cop-out. And the whole thing was nicely timed to music, and it reminded me of the Effiel Tower/ Washington Mounument's Millienial Celebrations back in 2000. But non the less an impressive display of fire power!

Actually, the beam was transmitted from olympia to canada. It didn't actually light the cauldron

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Actually, the beam was transmitted from olympia to canada. It didn't actually light the cauldron

yea that sounds interesting though, does any one have a full version of the montreal olympic games opening ceremony?

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yea that sounds interesting though, does any one have a full version of the montreal olympic games opening ceremony?

I have been looking for one for years but can't find it. CBC.ca has some clips leading up to Montreal but it or ABC apparently doesn't sell the video of the OC.

But at the time, between bringing the flame to Canada via beam, the architecture of Olympic Stadium and the village, everything was considered quite high tech back then.

BTW - there is a rumor that the flame went out in Montreal. I don't know how true this is but it has been rumored for many years.

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BTW - there is a rumor that the flame went out in Montreal. I don't know how true this is but it has been rumored for many years.

Yes, it was taken by Anastasia Romanov in the Holy Grail to deny Prof. Robert Langford and Sophie whats-her-name... an additional clue in their Da Vince Code quest!! ;)

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By the way, to refresh my memory, wasn't the Montreal 1976 torch relay to the lighting the shortest one in modern Olympic history?

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  • 2 weeks later...

According to the official report from 1976, the flame was kindled at Olympia, relayed to Athens to a special nighttime ceremony at Panathenaic Stadium where it was placed in a special device and seconds later transmitted as an electronic pulse via sattelite to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada where it was rekindled at a daytime ceremony to begin the Canadian leg of the relay. Five days later, it arrived at Stade Olympique in Montreal for the Opening Ceremony.

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I will autoquote myself:

I hope this works and that you'll like it! ;)

The video hasn't been available for some months, but now it seems to work again. It gives an error message sometimes, so just move the red button a little bit forward and skip a few seconds.

Barcelona's lighting from 1:11:39'' onward.

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Barcelona the best and so natural, Sydney was breath-taking but lost the plot. technology is brilliant but to much, wipes brilliancy if you know...

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