List of torchbearers who have lit the Olympic cauldron
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File:Opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games (flame).jpg and Zhao Jiawen lit the cauldron at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022]]
The tradition of carrying the Olympic flame from Olympia, Greece, the birthplace of the Ancient Olympic Games, to the host city of the modern Olympic Games via a torch relay was first introduced in 1936, ahead of the 1936 Summer Olympics. Since then, famous athletes (active or retired) with significant sporting achievements while representing the host country, promising young athletes, or other individuals with symbolic significance have been selected as the last runners in the Olympic torch relay and consequently have the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony.
History
The first well-known major athlete to light the cauldron was nine-time Olympic champion Paavo Nurmi at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Other famous final torch bearers include 1960 decathlon gold medallist Rafer Johnson, who became the first person of African descent to light the cauldron at the 1984 Summer Olympics,{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-12-02/rafer-johnson-dead?_amp=true&__twitter_impression=true|title = Rafer Johnson, the Olympic gold medalist who helped bring the games to L.A., has died|date = 2 December 2020}} French football star Michel Platini (1992), heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (1996), Australian sprinter Cathy Freeman (2000), the Canadian ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky (2010), the Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima (2016) and the South Korean figure skating champion Yuna Kim (2018). Most recently French sprinting star Marie-José Pérec and judo star Teddy Riner, both winners of multiple gold medals, lit the Olympic Cauldron at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.{{cite news |last1=Fryer |first1=Jenna |title=Who lit the Olympic cauldron? |url=https://www.wkyc.com/article/sports/olympics/who-lit-olympic-flame-paris-cauldron-2024/507-a5b90933-7187-4625-80b9-25ffc1ea3387 |access-date=12 August 2024 |agency=The Associated Press |publisher=wkyc.com |date=27 July 2024}}
On other occasions, the people who lit the cauldron were not famous but nevertheless symbolized the Olympic ideals. Japanese runner Yoshinori Sakai was born in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the day the city was destroyed by an atomic bomb. He symbolized the rebirth of Japan after the Second World War when he lit the Olympic cauldron of the 1964 Summer Olympics. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, two teenagers—representing the French- and the English-speaking parts of the country—symbolized the unity of Canada. Norway's Crown Prince Haakon lit the cauldron of the 1994 Winter Olympics, in honour of his father and grandfather, both Olympians. For the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, seven aspiring young athletes—each nominated by a former British Olympic champion—had the honour of lighting the cauldron.
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People who have lit the Olympic cauldron
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" | |
| scope="col"| Games
! scope="col"| Location ! scope="col"| Lighter ! scope="col"| Sport ! scope="col"| Note ! class="unsortable"| Ref. | |
|---|---|
| {{nowrap|1936 Summer}}
| Berlin ! scope="row"| Fritz Schilgen | Schilgen was not a competitor at the Olympics, but was chosen for his graceful running style. | |
| 1948 Summer
| London ! scope="row"| John Mark | Little-known former medical student from Cambridge University. | |
| 1952 Winter
| Oslo ! scope="row"| Eigil Nansen | Non-athlete | Grandson of polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. He is the first non-athlete to light the flame. | |
| rowspan="2"| 1952 Summer
|rowspan="2"| Helsinki ! scope="row"| Paavo Nurmi |rowspan="2"| Athletics |rowspan="2"| Nurmi was a winner of nine Olympic gold medals in the 1920s; Kolehmainen won four Olympic gold medals. Nurmi lit a cauldron on field level before handing the torch to four football players who relayed the torch to the top of the tower. Kolehmainen then lit the final, higher-placed cauldron. | |
| scope="row"| Hannes Kolehmainen | |
| 1956 Winter
! scope="row"| Guido Caroli | Participant in the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Winter Olympics. Skating with the torch, he tripped over a television cable but kept the flame burning. | |
| rowspan="2"| 1956 Summer
|rowspan="2"| Melbourne ! scope="row"| Ron Clarke (Melbourne) |rowspan="2"| Wikne later participated in the 1964 Summer Olympics. After Wikne lit the brazier on the infield, the flame was passed on to Karin Lindberg and Henry Ericksson, who separately ran up the two towers of the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. | |
| scope="row"| Hans Wikne (Stockholm) | |
| 1960 Winter
! scope="row"| Ken Henry | Olympic champion in Men's 500 metres | |
| 1960 Summer
| Rome ! scope="row"| Giancarlo Peris | Track athlete of Greek descent. The Italian National Olympic Committee decided that the last torchbearer of the Olympics would be the winner of a junior cross country running race and him won this award | |
| 1964 Winter
! scope="row"| Josef Rieder | Former Olympic Athlete,competed in the 1956 Winter Olympics | |
| 1964 Summer
| Tokyo ! scope="row"| Yoshinori Sakai | Sakai was born on the same day the atom bomb exploded over his native Hiroshima. He did not participate in the Olympics. | |
| 1968 Winter
| Grenoble ! scope="row"| Alain Calmat | 1964 Winter Olympics Silver Medalist |
| 1968 Summer
! scope="row"| Enriqueta Basilio | Sprinter who participated in these Olympics; the first woman to light the Olympic cauldron. | |
| 1972 Winter
| Sapporo ! scope="row"| {{nihongo|Hideki Takada|高田 英基|Takada Hideki}} | Non-athlete | A sixteen year old Japanese student. | {{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/02/03/archives/winter-olympics-open-in-splendor-at-sapporo-hirohito-hails-athletes.html|title=Winter Olympics Open In Splendor at Sapporo|date=3 February 1972|website=The New York Times|access-date=2 October 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.olympic.org/sapporo-1972|title=Sapporo 1972 |website=Olympic.org |date=24 April 2018 |access-date=2 October 2018}} | |
| 1972 Summer
| Munich ! scope="row"| Günther Zahn | Middle-distance runner. Winner of the West German junior athletics championships. | |
| rowspan="2"| 1976 Winter
|rowspan="2"| Innsbruck ! scope="row"| Christl Haas |rowspan="2"| Haas won gold on downhill in 1964 Winter Olympics; Feistmantl won luge doubles in the same Games. | |
| scope="row"| Josef Feistmantl
| Luge | |
| rowspan="2"| 1976 Summer
|rowspan="2"| Montreal ! scope="row"| Sandra Henderson |rowspan="2"| Two teenagers representing English and French Canadian. Neither of them participated in any Olympics. | |
| scope="row"| Stéphane Préfontaine | |
| 1980 Winter
! scope="row"| Charles Morgan Kerr | Non-athlete | A psychiatrist from Arizona who had been elected from all 52 torch relay bearers to run the final leg. | {{cite web|url=http://www.olympic.org/lake-placid-1980|title=Lake Placid 1980 |website=Olympic.org |date=24 April 2018 |access-date=3 October 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://usopm.org/passing-the-test-how-charles-kerr-earned-the-honor-of-lighting-the-olympic-cauldron-at-lake-placid-1980/|title=Passing the test: How Charles Kerr was chosen to light the Olympic Cauldron |website=United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum |date=13 February 2020 |access-date=18 April 2021}} | |
| 1980 Summer
| Moscow ! scope="row"| Sergei Belov | Member of the Soviet basketball team,Olympic Champion at the 1972 Summer Olympics. | |
| 1984 Winter
| Sarajevo ! scope="row"| Sanda Dubravčić | Best placed Winter Olympic Athlete from former Yugoslavia until that date.She finished 10th at Individual event at the 1980 Winter Olympics. | |
| 1984 Summer
! scope="row"| Rafer Johnson | Olympic Champion at the Men's decathlon at 1960 Summer Olympics; the first person of African descent to light the Olympic cauldron. | |
| 1988 Winter
| Calgary ! scope="row"| Robyn Perry | A 12-year-old schoolgirl and aspiring figure skater.Perry's choice symbolized the future of the Olympic movement, since in 1986, the International Olympic Committee had decided to implement new policies, including the change in the cycle between the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. | |
| rowspan="3"| 1988 Summer
|rowspan="3"| Seoul ! scope="row"| Chung Sun-man |rowspan="2"| Non-athlete |rowspan="3"| Chung Sun-man was a schoolteacher. Sohn was a young Korean dancer. Kim Won-tak was a young track athlete who took part in that Games' marathon. |rowspan="3"| {{cite web|url=http://www.olympic.org/seoul-1988/|title=Seoul 1988 |website=Olympic.org |access-date=3 October 2018}} | |
| scope="row"| Sohn Mi-chung | |
| scope="row"| Kim Won-tak | |
| rowspan="2"| 1992 Winter
|rowspan="2"| Albertville ! scope="row"| Michel Platini |rowspan="2"| Platini took part with the French football team in the 1976 Summer Olympics. Grange was a future alpine skier (and older brother of future multiple-time alpine skiing Slalom world champion Jean-Baptiste Grange). Aged nine at the time, Grange became the youngest final lighter in history. | |
| scope="row"| François-Cyrille Grange | |
| 1992 Summer
! scope="row"| Antonio Rebollo | Archery | Paralympian who competed in the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Summer Paralympics, winning two silvers and a bronze. The only Paralympian ever to light the Olympic cauldron, Rebollo shot a flaming arrow over an open natural gas cauldron to ignite it. | |
| 1994 Winter
! scope="row"| Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway | Non-athlete | Heir apparent to the throne of Norway. Though he was not an Olympian, both his father and grandfather took part in the Olympics and he lit the cauldron on their behalf.He was also the patron of the Games and his involvement was crucial to their realization.Also,his father declared the games opened | |
| 1996 Summer
| Atlanta ! scope="row"| Muhammad Ali | Boxing | 1960 Summer Olympics light heavyweight boxing gold medalist; the first Muslim to light the Olympic cauldron. | |
| 1998 Winter
| Nagano ! scope="row"| Midori Ito | |
| 2000 Summer
| Sydney ! scope="row"| Cathy Freeman | Silver medalist in 1996 and would later win at these games, both in the 400 metres. She is one of two people to light the cauldron and win a gold medal in the same games, alongside Teddy Riner. Cathy was also chosen as part of the celebration of 100 years of women being included in the Olympics, she was passed the Olympic flame in the final lighting of the flame by 5 other Australian women who are significant in Australian Olympic history. She is also the first person of indigenous descent to light the cauldron. | |
| 2002 Winter
! scope="row"| The 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team | Protagonists of the historial fact called "Miracle on Ice"; an upset of the Soviet hockey team en route to the gold medal. | |
| 2004 Summer
| Athens ! scope="row"| Nikolaos Kaklamanakis | Sailing | Winner of Olympic gold in 1996 and would win a silver in these Olympics. | |
| 2006 Winter
| Turin ! scope="row"| Stefania Belmondo | Winner of ten Olympic medals between 1992 to 2002, two of them gold. One of Italy's most decorated Olympians. | |
| 2008 Summer
| Beijing ! scope="row"| Li Ning | Ning won 6 medals (3 gold,2 silvers and 1 bronze) at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He was China's most successful athlete at their first Olympic appearance since 1952. | |
| rowspan="4"| 2010 Winter
|rowspan="4"| Vancouver ! scope="row"| Steve Nash (indoor cauldron) |rowspan="4"| Le May Doan was a winner of two gold medals in the 500 m in 1998 and 2002 and a bronze in the 1000 m in 1998. Nash is a two-time NBA MVP with the Phoenix Suns and a former member of the Canadian Olympic Basketball team, playing in 2000 Summer Olympics. Greene won gold in the giant slalom and silver in the slalom in 1968 Winter Olympics. Gretzky was a member of the Canadian ice hockey team and won four Stanley Cup titles as captain of the Edmonton Oilers ({{scfy|1984}}, {{scfy|1985}}, {{scfy|1987}}, {{scfy|1988}}). He was the executive director of the Canadian men's hockey team in 2002, who won gold at that Games. During the opening ceremony, Nash and Greene lit a cauldron inside the BC Place indoor stadium. Gretzky then lit a second, outdoor cauldron near the Vancouver Convention Centre. Only the outdoor cauldron remained lit throughout the Games. Le May Doan was supposed to participate in the lighting of the indoor cauldron, but was left out when one of the four arms failed to raise due to mechanical problems. This was corrected at the beginning of the closing ceremony, when a joke was made about the mechanical error, and she was able to light the newly emerged fourth arm and relight the indoor cauldron to begin the closing ceremony. |rowspan="4"|{{cite web|url=http://www.torontosun.com/sports/vancouver2010/news/2010/02/13/12864051-qmi.html|title=Opening Ceremony timeline|last=Friesen|first=Paul|date=13 February 2010|publisher=Toronto Sun|access-date=13 February 2010}}{{cite video|title=2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony|medium=television|publisher=NBC Sports|date=2010-02-12}}{{cite web|url=https://montrealgazette.com/sports/2010wintergames/Closing+ceremony+pokes+2010+Games/2625251/story.html|title=Closing ceremony pokes fun at the 2010 Games|last=Kines|first=Lindsay|date=February 28, 2010|publisher=The Montreal Gazette|access-date=1 March 2010}} | |
| scope="row"| Nancy Greene Raine (indoor cauldron) | |
| scope="row"| Wayne Gretzky (outdoor cauldron) | |
| scope="row"| Catriona Le May Doan (closing ceremony) | |
| rowspan="7"| 2012 Summer
|rowspan="7"| London ! scope="row"| Desirèe Henry |rowspan="4"| Track and field |rowspan="7"|The cauldron was lit by seven teenagers, each nominated by a veteran British Olympian:
Austin Playfoot later relit the cauldron in its new spot in the Olympic Stadium. Duckitt was the only non-athlete among them. Henry would later go on to win an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m in 2016 as part of the Jamaican team. |rowspan="7"|{{cite news|title=Cauldron moved into position in Olympic Stadium|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19024475 |publisher=BBC |date=30 July 2012 |access-date=20 February 2013 }}{{cite web|title=#1YearOn........ Where are they now?|publisher=Team GB |url=https://www.teamgb.com/news/1yearon-where-are-they-now |date=31 July 2013 |access-date=3 October 2018}}{{cite web|title=Rio Olympics 2016: The seven teenagers still carrying a torch for our Games hopes |work=The Independent|first=Matt|last=Majendie |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/rio-olympics-2016-the-seven-teenagers-still-carrying-a-torch-for-our-games-hopes-10417460.html |date=26 July 2015 |access-date=3 October 2018}} | |
| scope="row"| Katie Kirk | |
| scope="row"| Aidan Reynolds | |
| scope="row"| Adelle Tracey | |
| scope="row"| Callum Airlie
| Sailing | |
| scope="row"| Jordan Duckitt
| Non-athlete (Young Ambassadors Group) | |
| scope="row"| Cameron MacRitchie
| Rowing | |
| rowspan="2"| 2014 Winter
|rowspan="2"| Sochi ! scope="row"| Irina Rodnina |rowspan="2"| Both former Russian athletes won three gold medals at the Winter Olympics: Rodnina in figure skating and Tretiak in ice hockey (in addition to a silver) | |
| scope="row"| Vladislav Tretiak | |
| rowspan="2"| 2016 Summer
|rowspan="2"| Rio de Janeiro ! scope="row"| Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima |rowspan="2"| Athletics | Winner of the bronze medal in the marathon of the 2004 Summer Olympics.Cordeiro de Lima was the first Latin American awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Medal after he was deliberately interrupted during that event. |rowspan="2"|{{cite news|title=Best man for the job: Vanderlei de Lima lights Olympic cauldron|url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/best-man-job-vanderlei-de-lima-lights-olympic-cauldron-opening-ceremony |agency=NBC Sports |date=6 August 2016 |access-date=14 September 2016 }}{{cite news|title=Formerly homeless boy who lit Olympic cauldron now has 'beautiful life'|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rio-olympics-boy-who-lit-cauldron-1.3716398 |agency=CBC |date=12 August 2016 |access-date=14 September 2016 }} | |
| scope="row"| Jorge Gomes (public cauldron) | A second, outdoor cauldron was lit in front of Candelaria Church by a 14-year-old, who was part of a sports project in Rio de Janeiro. | |
| 2018 Winter
! scope="row"| Yuna Kim | Winner of Olympic gold in the ladies' singles in 2010 and silver in 2014. | |
| rowspan="2" |{{nowrap|2020 Summer{{efn|name=2020 Olympics|Held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.}}}}
| rowspan="2" |Tokyo ! scope="row"| Naomi Osaka (stadium cauldron) | Tennis | Japanese tennis player who participated in the Games, winner of four singles Grand Slams, and world #2 player at the time of the Games; the first woman of Black descent to light the Olympic cauldron. | |
| scope="row"| Ayaka Takahashi (public cauldron)
| A second, outdoor cauldron was lit at the Ariake Yume-no-Ohashi Bridge in Tokyo Waterfront by retired Japanese badminton player who won gold in 2016. | | |
| rowspan="2"| 2022 Winter
|rowspan="2"| Beijing ! scope="row"| Dilnigar Ilhamjan |rowspan="2"|Cross-country skier Dilnigar Ilhamjan (Dinigeer Yilamujiang) and Nordic combined athlete Zhao Jiawen, both born in the 2000s, had the honour of lighting the Cauldron. Dilnigar qualified for the Beijing 2022, having become the first Chinese cross-country skiing medalist in an International Ski Federation-level event, finishing second in the opening women's leg of a three-leg sprint series in Beijing in March 2019.Zhao became the first Chinese athlete to compete in Nordic combined in an Winter Olympic Games.Three similar snowflakes were also erected as public flames, with one outside of the stadium lit by a volunteer, one in Yanqing District lit by speed skater Yu Jongjun, and the third in Zhangjiakou lit by skier Wang Wezhuo.{{cite web|date=4 February 2022|title=Uyghur athlete lights Olympic Cauldron as Beijing 2022 officially opens|url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1118798/beijing-2022-opening-ceremony|access-date=4 February 2022|website=Inside the Games|archive-date=4 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204195632/https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1118798/beijing-2022-opening-ceremony|url-status=live}} |rowspan="2"|{{cite web|url=https://olympics.com/en/news/beijing-2022-opening-ceremony-dinigeer-zhao-jiawen-light-cauldron|website=Olympics.com|title=Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony - Olympic cauldron lighting ends spectacular show}}{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-sports-ap-news-alert-beijing-2020-tokyo-olympics-07e634212b1c2ebd593742cc7f98590f|title=Chinese athletes Zhao Jiawen and Dinigeer Yilamujiang deliver the final Olympic flame at the Beijing Games}} | |
| scope="row"| Zhao Jiawen | |
| rowspan="2" |2024 Summer
| rowspan="2" |Paris ! scope="row"| Marie-José Pérec | Athletics | Olympic champion at the Women's 400 metres at 1992 Summer Olympics, Women's 200 metres at 1996 Summer Olympics and the Women's 400 metres at 1996 Summer Olympics. | |
| scope="row"| Teddy Riner
| Judo | Olympic Champion in the superheavyweight category at the 2012 and 2016 games, the mixed team competition at the 2020 games and bronze medalist on same category at the 2008 and the 2020.He would go on to win the superheavyweight category at these same games, making him one of only two athletes to light the cauldron and win a gold medal at the same games after Cathy Freeman. |
=Youth Olympics=
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Games ! Location ! Lighter ! Sport ! Note ! Ref |
| {{nowrap|2010 Summer Youth}}
| Darren Choy | Sailing | A Singaporean sailor who participated in the Games. | |
| rowspan="3"| 2012 Winter Youth
|rowspan="3"| Innsbruck |rowspan="2"| Alpine skiing |rowspan="3"| Both Zimmerman and Klammer won the gold in the downhill event in 1964 and 1976 respectively, both years when Austria previously hosted the Winter Olympics. Gerstgraser was an athlete of the Austrian delegation competing in the Games. |rowspan="3"| |
| Franz Klammer |
| Paul Gerstgraser |
| 2014 Summer Youth
| Nanjing | Diving | Winner of back-to-back gold medals in diving in 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, in the 10 m and the 10 m synchronized. She would retain the latter's gold medal in 2016 Summer Olympics. | |
| 2016 Winter Youth
| Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway | Non-athlete | Elder child of Crown Prince Haakon, who previously lit the cauldron in the 1994 Winter Olympics. Her grandfather declared the Games open. |
| 2018 Summer Youth
| Santiago Lange and Paula Pareto | As Buenos Aires 2018 was the first edition of an Olympic competition with gender equality, the lighting of the cauldron was carried out by a woman and a man. Pareto won bronze at Beijing 2008 and gold at Rio 2016 Olympics; Lange, won bronze at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympics and was Olympic champion at Rio 2016 Games. |
| 2020 Winter Youth
| Lausanne | Youngest athlete of the Swiss delegation competing in the Games. | |
| 2024 Winter Youth
| Gangwon | Lee Jeong-min | Youngest athlete of the South Korean delegation competing in the Games. | |
See also
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist|3}}
External links
{{Commons category|Cauldron lighting at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games}}
{{Olympic symbols}}