STORY: Yao in Paris: a dialogue with Olympic cauldron designer of Paris 2024
SHOOTING DATE: Aug. 1, 2024
DATELINE: Aug. 2, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:34
LOCATION: Paris
CATEGORY: SPORTS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the Olympic cauldron
2. SOUNDBITE (English): MATHIEU LEHANNEUR, Designer of the cauldron for the Olympic Games Paris 2024

STORYLINE:

The Paris 2024 Olympics has showcased an unprecedented Olympic cauldron that floats in the air every evening under a balloon. 

However, behind this unique cauldron lies an even greater innovation - it is the first main cauldron in Olympic history without a real flame. The "flame" seen by the audience is actually a visual effect created by light and water mist.

Today we've invited Mathieu Lehanneur, the designer of the cauldron to reveal the ideas behind this unique design.

SOUNDBITE (English): MATHIEU LEHANNEUR, Designer of the cauldron for 2024 Paris Olympic Games
"First of all, the main concept was to try to find a way to make it more visible, and at the same time most crowded with human beings as we could expect. My very first move was to think about this idea of a flying cauldron. It would mean for me to make it visible as high as we can, and to make it visible from many, many different spots in Paris. The second thing was to of course offer a great emotional experience during the opening ceremony. So by this way, we offer the experience for any people to come very close to the cauldron. It's absolutely amazing and super moving to see all the people here waiting for the rise. They are dancing, listening, music and frankly, we didn't expect that. Because in France, this is the country where for the very first time in the human history that a human being has been able to fly. So for me, making a visible cauldron able to be as close as we can to the public because people can be around and bringing society of history, and bringing society of probably poetry as well. Because when something is flying, it's just amazing. We wanted to find out a way actually to reduce the carbon footprint, and to be as sustainable as we can. And it's all the case for those Olympic Games. So it makes sense for the Olympic cauldron to express the same idea. In order to create a flame without combustion, it's a flame made of light and water. The day after the opening ceremony, I received [a] thousand messages and people didn't say that I love this shape, I love this design. No, all of them were expressing the emotion. I cried a lot, I got goose bump, it was crazy. Actually, you bring an object, you bring a design proposal, so you make a step toward people. But the most important thing is to make people make a step towards you. It means that I don't want people to be like this, admiring my work, saying, 'Oh, it's beautiful.' No, I want them to touch. I want them to make this step. It's really a question of relationship between human beings, and my work is to use objects to maximize those relationships."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Paris.
(XHTV)