The Paralympic torch which began its journey to France at the weekend is identical to the Olympic torch for the first time ever - and here's why.
Traditionally, each torch has design variations, but designer Mathieu Lehanneur and Paris 2024 wanted to ‘push equality to the limit’.
The design has hidden elements that all come together in a symmetrical way, to emphasise this balance.
Not only that, but usually 10,000 to 12,000 torches are made for the Olympic Games, which was reduced to 2,000 this year for environmental purposes.
The torches are also made with a new and innovative technique using ecological recycled steel, known as XCarb.
ArcelorMittal, the steel and mining company that designed and manufactured the torches, has offered a look into the process behind the 2024 Olympic Torches, Rings and Agitos.
They created three videos [https://www.youtube.com/@arcelormittal] exploring the concept, manufacture and installation of each element.
Franck Wasilewski, project manager for the torches, said: “We can sense when a material has a history.
“So, the fact that we're taking recycled steel, which already has a history, which was perhaps a car, and then all of a sudden, it's been taken over, recast, reshaped and that it looks different again, that's an integral part of the essence of this torch.”
Over the course of four-day torch relay from 25 to 28 August 2024, some 1,000 Forerunners will have carried the Paralympic flame to 50 cities throughout France.
The relay started on 25th August in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympics.
Unlike the Olympic flame, several Paralympic flames can shine alongside one another, reflecting the unique features of the Paralympic movement.
Mathieu Lehanneur, designer of the Paris 2024 Torch added: “Working on the torch for Paris 2024 was an opportunity to create something that is both a work of art and a symbol of progress.
“It’s been a privilege to bring this vision to life in collaboration with ArcelorMittal.”
Traditionally, each torch has design variations, but designer Mathieu Lehanneur and Paris 2024 wanted to ‘push equality to the limit’.
The design has hidden elements that all come together in a symmetrical way, to emphasise this balance.
Not only that, but usually 10,000 to 12,000 torches are made for the Olympic Games, which was reduced to 2,000 this year for environmental purposes.
The torches are also made with a new and innovative technique using ecological recycled steel, known as XCarb.
ArcelorMittal, the steel and mining company that designed and manufactured the torches, has offered a look into the process behind the 2024 Olympic Torches, Rings and Agitos.
They created three videos [https://www.youtube.com/@arcelormittal] exploring the concept, manufacture and installation of each element.
Franck Wasilewski, project manager for the torches, said: “We can sense when a material has a history.
“So, the fact that we're taking recycled steel, which already has a history, which was perhaps a car, and then all of a sudden, it's been taken over, recast, reshaped and that it looks different again, that's an integral part of the essence of this torch.”
Over the course of four-day torch relay from 25 to 28 August 2024, some 1,000 Forerunners will have carried the Paralympic flame to 50 cities throughout France.
The relay started on 25th August in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympics.
Unlike the Olympic flame, several Paralympic flames can shine alongside one another, reflecting the unique features of the Paralympic movement.
Mathieu Lehanneur, designer of the Paris 2024 Torch added: “Working on the torch for Paris 2024 was an opportunity to create something that is both a work of art and a symbol of progress.
“It’s been a privilege to bring this vision to life in collaboration with ArcelorMittal.”
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FunTranscript
00:00If you don't train a lot, if you don't prepare a lot, you have no chance of succeeding.
00:25What an emotion and what a pleasure to finally be in 2024.
00:28We've been waiting for this for so long.
00:30France has met with its history.
00:32It's been 100 years since we welcomed the Summer Olympics.
00:37These are spectacular sports, but they are also committed sports.
00:41Committed means that they must also contribute to the challenges of our society.
00:47Games for the first time in the history of parity.
00:50Games that want to reduce carbon emissions by half.
00:53We decided collectively to go from 10,000 to 12,000 torches
00:59that were produced on the last editions of the Games, to 2,000.
01:09How do I make a breath of Paris?
01:11How do I express equality?
01:13How do I give an idea of calming?
01:16Equality has been converted through a game of symmetry.
01:19We used a principle of symmetry between the top and the bottom of the torch.
01:22It was the first time in its history that it was an absolutely symmetrical torch.
01:25So equality was good.
01:27How do we make Paris appear?
01:29I didn't want to be too inspired by the monuments of Paris,
01:32which are obviously icons, but which are a bit like postcards.
01:35But to make it look like a scene.
01:38The bottom of the torch takes up a kind of water relief.
01:44With Carcel Ormital, who is once again in charge of the manufacture of these 2,000 torches,
01:50they are also built in a rather unprecedented way,
01:54with a green steel, which is really a technology, a remarkable innovation.
02:03You feel when a material has a story.
02:06So the fact that we take a recycled steel, which already has a story,
02:12which may have been a car, and then all of a sudden it has been taken over,
02:15re-melted, re-shaped, and which re-exists differently,
02:20is something that is totally part of the essence of this torch.
02:27We have over 15,000 employees in France,
02:30and the fact that we can make low-carbon steel, make it in France,
02:34roll it, provide it to the Olympics, is just because of all of their hard work.
02:39So it was a kind of choreography, quite beautiful,
02:42between Carcel Ormital, the design teams, Paris 2024.
02:47The whole preparation of this torch was a bit like the Olympics.
02:55I think it's really a torch that will stay, I believe, in the history of games.
02:59In any case, I am very proud that it can be associated with Paris 2024.
03:05To know that steel is art, I think it's a victory, right?
03:09Because people don't think of steel as an object of art, or that it can be used in art.
03:15We were making these incredible torches, we are making the spectaculars,
03:20so you will see how our steel is being used in the most phenomenal way.