Since the creation of the modern Games in 1896, the Olympic flame, which will arrive in Marseille aboard the Belem sailboat next Wednesday, has experienced several chaotic and bizarre episodes, Agence France-Presse reports.
A brilliant prank or fraud, the most memorable Olympic flame incident dates back to 1956. A young Australian student, Barry Larkin, was able to fool everyone with a self-made torch in which he burned underwear.
After an incredible succession of circumstances, Larkin, who had planned a fake motorised escort, found himself surrounded by several police motorcycles when he began to run, applauded by spectators, who accompanied him to Sydney Town Hall.
At the top of the stairs, the city’s mayor received the torch. When he was about to give his speech, the ruse was discovered.
It had to be one of the symbolic images of the torch’s journey to Rio de Janeiro in 2016. One of the stages passed through the Amazon jungle with a unique escort; a 17-year-old jaguar called Juma, a species in danger of extinction.
Unfortunately, Juma escaped. Four arrows with tranquilizers were not enough to bring it down and the animal attacked a trainer. The soldiers had to shoot her.
The culmination of the Olympic route, the lighting of the cauldron, has also left memorable images; for example the Spanish Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo illuminating the Barcelona Games in 1992 or the boxing legend Mohamed Ali, already suffering from Parkinson’s, completing the last relay in the Atlanta edition four years later.
But sometimes things don’t go as planned. As it was with Seoul 1988: released a few moments before, dozens of pigeons approached the cauldron at the moment it was lit and several burned before the incredulous eyes of the spectators.
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Protests are regular occurrences in the Olympic relay because of the global media exposure it offers. In 2008, defenders of Tibet took advantage of the fact that the Games were traveling to Beijing to demonstrate: in Paris, Pro-Tibetan protesters succeeded in disrupting its journey and the torch ended up on a bus.
During its journey to Sydney for the 2000 Games, a spectator without any visible motivation took the torch from surfer Tom Carroll and attempted to throw it into Kiama Harbour, south of the city, before being pinned to the ground. A high school student also tried to put it out, with a fire extinguisher.
In 2012, the Olympic flame —eternal according to legend— had to be relit after it went out while being carried by Paralympic badminton star David Follett. The fire did not withstand a gust of wind in the southwest of England.
At the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the torches, manufactured by a Russian missile brand, went out several times, so they had to be relit discreetly by members of the secret services.
In 2020, the flame’s journey came to a sudden halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic: after arriving in Tokyo on 19 March, it did not continue its journey until 25 March, 2021. For a year it remained illuminated in the Olympic museum in Tokyo. During his final journey to the stadium, the few spectators who witnessed it, wearing masks, were prohibited from applauding to prevent the spread of the virus.