Many who attended the Olympic Opening Ceremony are in for a shock as one of the most exciting parts of the ceremony turned out to be… a hoax.
The 2024 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony has certainly become the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons. Viewers around the world were up in arms over the parody of the Last Supper, the nude singer and the errors in the telecast which social media users say tarnished the brilliant ceremony.
However, two of the highlights for many were Celine Dion's stirring performance and the lighting of the Olympic torch.
The huge fire was lit by French Olympic gold medalists Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner. It was then lifted by a hot air balloon and the Olympic flame rose into the Paris night sky, creating a magical image.
🔥 The Olympic Flame is lit... and it's in the form of a hot-air balloon.
It's a spectacular sight.
Follow the #Paris2024 opening ceremony ⬇️https://t.co/dnaoj3rYrg pic.twitter.com/roN8ACKFzN
- The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 26, 2024
And when we say magical, we mean it as a few hours later people learned that it wasn't actually fire.
Well, it turns out that the massive Olympic flame was actually 100% electric and was created by 40 LED lights with water vapor… And all this as part of France's admirable bid to stage the "greenest Olympics" in history.