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This was legendary at the time. IMO we missed an opportunity to every 4 years have increasingly dramatic torch lightings. If we had, we’d be in for some trippy shit in Paris 2024
A man of legend. He was able to run the length of 12 football fields in 12 seconds WHILE ON FIRE.
And a 5000' fall?? Was this really the size of the city of Gondor
I need this alternate ending. Just Denethor, on fire, screaming and going full marathon mode all the way to Mt. Doom. Meanwhile Sauron and the Nazgûl are like, “Umm…guys, what do we do here?”
Cut to Gollum also lighting himself on fire and sprinting after Denethor.
“I’m going to need wood, gasoline, and a significant quantity of LSD. Oh, and, in case you have one in stock, a Silmaril. Oh yes, and also some red vines; thank you Astro.”
This was the first torch lighting that I was old enough to remember so I thought cool shit like this was the standard, plus I lived in Atlanta in 96.
I was so disappointed by our torch.
We'd end up with the olympic torch run sponsored by Red Bull Racing. There's bed a torch shaped kayak with a turbo motor, a torch shaped hang glider etc for every part of the route.
‘78 here, and smoking by age 12 thanks to the Camel Joe ads. By age 22 I was ready to retire with 10 grandchildren on the Christmas card list. My, how they grow up so fast..
...and for not using the OG [old.reddit.com](https://old.reddit.com)
Ain't got time for people's avatars, icons, and what-have-yous. Content only. No BS.
Isn't the story that the arrow never actually lit the flame? Not knocking what the guy did, but I swear I read a story saying that the arrow was for show and in reality they just hit a switch to turn it on as the arrow passed over.
1992: Antonio Rebollo, a three-time Paralympic medalist in archery, lit the flame from 195 feet away with the aid of a bow and arrow — or so it appeared. Fearing Rebollo would miss his mark, organizers instructed the archer to fire his arrow beyond the walls of the stadium. As the arrow soared toward the cauldron, a technician lit the natural gas flame with a remote control. The illusion worked, mesmerizing spectators and TV viewers, and the true story wasn't revealed for another 20 years (2012). A native of Barcelona, Rebollo contracted polio in both legs when he was eight months old.
Source: https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/olympic-cauldron-lighters-who-lit-flame-each-olympic-games
It may not have been "officially" revealed for 20 years, but there was a rumor stating that it was lit by remote control and not the arrow circulating just a couple of days after the opening ceremonies. Pre-internet and rumors still traveled faster than light.
If they had turned on the gas, so there were a gas-oxygen mixture above the bowl, then the arrow could in theory still have ignited the flame just by flying over.
He was a Paralympic with polio. I’d guess he tucked it in to not expose his legs. The fact he did it standing may have been considered incredible to begin with. Unfortunately his Wikipedia is rather short.
>
[> When Rebollo was eight months old, he contracted polio with both legs affected, the right one severely.” ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Rebollo?wprov=sfti1#)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/worldcup/comments/8z3b1m/french\_president\_emmanuel\_macron\_celebrating\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldcup/comments/8z3b1m/french_president_emmanuel_macron_celebrating_the/)
President Macaron of France would like a word with you.
If you even watch it, when the fire in cauldron hit, one of he dove literally went for it, and (according to a youtube comment) the commentator apparently was very (and correctly) worried of the dove a minute before lol. I added the link lol.
The automod filter has removed the comment with the link. Looks like they've have set it to filter all YouTube links. Makes no sense for a subreddit like this.
edit: And they've set it to filter comments containing the word that is spelled "m-o-d-s" too 🙄
My understanding is that he deliberately overshot the cauldron for safety reasons. The arrow ignited the gas coming out of the cauldron as it passed. At least that's what's most commonly claimed. I do know the archer said it was a very easy shot for him.
At the end of the day, who cares what happened. I watched it live on TV at the time and it was absolutely incredible. To me, it's still the best torch lighting, beating out '84 (those endless stairs!) and '00 (absolutely incredible).
It's also what it says in the [official report](https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll8/id/35348/rec/59):
>The arrow described an arc and lit the gas issuing from the cauldron; the flame soared up to a height of three metres. The most eagerly awaited moment of the ceremony had come and gone to general acclamation
Go back a page to see a photo fo the arc.
Nah, unfortunately not. "1992: Antonio Rebollo, a three-time Paralympic medalist in archery, lit the flame from 195 feet away with the aid of a bow and arrow — or so it appeared. Fearing Rebollo would miss his mark, organizers instructed the archer to fire his arrow beyond the walls of the stadium. As the arrow soared toward the cauldron, a technician lit the natural gas flame with a remote control. The illusion worked, mesmerizing spectators and TV viewers, and the true story wasn't revealed for another 20 years (2012)."
lol exactly. It was clear as day to anyone who paid attention.
"20 years until the true story was revealed" is just romanticism. It was well known straight away what happened.
I mean imagine if he missed and they didn't have a backup plan? That would've been like the 3rd or 4th worst thing to ever happen at the Olympics......
even if the archer was a man who has hit the bullseye 1km away every single day since birth - they'd still have a backup plan like that. There was no "fearing" there, just making sure the show \*a lot\* of people are watching goes smoothly
The Arrow had to explain to the Organisers exactly what it intended to do in order to get approval to perform the stunt.
But seriously, I think it's just a miss translation. Putting "described" into Google Translate you get "trazar", as in, *trace, draw, plot*.
THere's three stories.
All involve the shot being correctly made over the cauldron.
1. It ignited "gas" in hte cauldron. This is **highly** unlikely just because of the way that a gas flame works. It will dissipate quite quickly and the height of the arrow makes it almost impossible it lit it.
2. It ignited "gas" but there was a failsafe to light it if this didnt work with someone hitting a switch. This is very possible but it still would assume that anyone with a clue would think the gas ignition would work.
3. Someone hit a switch as it passed over. This is almost certianly what happened and is also the most commonly noted story in reliable media.
2000 hilarious. Cathy lit the cauldron and the mechanism stalled so she had to just stand there for a while going wtf.
Several years later someone called into an aussie radio station and said that like all Australian he was wrapped up in the incredible moment. Problem was that he was meant to be controlling the flow of water and the he screwed up, stalling the cauldron mechanism due to the weight of the water on it.
>The arrow ignited the gas coming out of the cauldron as it passed.
Claiming that one is funny considering you never see the fire start from where the arrow is, only from the bottom of the cauldron.
It was also very dark. The cauldron looked you could only just see reflections on it and it was quite windy. So I can understand the safety reason if it's true.
Yeah, but Edmure is missing the shot due to grief of his father passing, and not because he's a bad archer, or incompetent. In the books, it's a real heartwarming moment and Blackfish helps his nephew out of love, but in the show, it's played up for laughs, dunking on Edmure. D&D changed the scenes for no good reason.
Blackfish in the show: Basically a dick, does nothing, treats Edmure like a stain on his boots, Jaime admits he admires him but then he died like a chump to random men-at-arms.
Blackfish in the books: Knight of the Bloody Gate, hero of the War of Ninepenny Kings, hardened fighter, loved all of his family immensely and even looked after a young Littlefinger when he might have ruined his opportunity as ward of Hoster Tully, gets stern when he has to with family but still adores them all, an absolute legend, easily evades the Frey/ Lannister scum at Riverrun and (presumably) delves into Moat Cailin to find either Howland Reed or to find Rickon Stark in exile.
He "missed" but fired it exactly as he should. I saw some discussion of his shot and they DIDNT want him to put it IN the cauldron because the arrow might damage the apparatus. He fired it over the cauldron, but close enough to ignite the fuel.
[You are correct.](https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/rafael-nadal-olympics-antonio-rebollo-barcelona)
People WANT to believe it was "natural," but it just wasn't. In fact, you can go frame-by-frame and clearly see ignition happens AWAY from the arrow. It was all very well done, regardless.
> they DIDNT want him to put it IN the cauldron
Well, also because the fans are right under the thing and an badly timed wind gust could have resulted in the flaming arrow landing in the stands. He shot it literally the only place he could.
I thought it did miss - flew over the cauldron and fell behind? (I thought I remembered reading it was actually lit not by the torch, but by someone else once the arrow flew near it).
It did actually, if you look at the video you can see it come out the back.
Still looked well though, they always have backup plans for these things.
I'd say he'd been practicing that for weeks and on the day there's a stiff damn breeze. He was probably cursing his luck.
100% certainty, it was captured in this beautiful photograph by one of the photographers at the opening ceremony.
[https://olympics.com/en/news/snapped-the-flaming-arrow-at-the-olympic-games-barcelona-1992](https://olympics.com/en/news/snapped-the-flaming-arrow-at-the-olympic-games-barcelona-1992)
You can see the path of the arrow passing over the cauldron. It was a brilliant bit of showmanship and the fact the arrow didn't actually land in the cauldron doesn't take away from the magic of the moment one bit fwiw
Where else exactly is the arrow supposed to go? It can't hit the side or bottom, that wouldn't work. It has to go over to light the gas. Is everyone thinking he should have angled it higher to drop the arrow straight in, because I think the fans sitting right under the bowl might not have loved that idea.
They've literally admitted to using a remote control to light the fire.
[https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/olympic-cauldron-lighters-who-lit-flame-each-olympic-games](https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/olympic-cauldron-lighters-who-lit-flame-each-olympic-games)
The arrow was always supposed to miss for obvious reasons, but it didn't light the fire. It was just a well timed remote trigger.
Exactly. He didn't miss. He put it exactly there he had to, in order to achieve the dramatic effect, safely. He did, the drama was awesome. I was a small kid and I remember watching this at my mate's nan's house. Vividly. It was, and still is, awesome. It doesn't need to be dissected on the internet but even tho it has been, there is no fakery here. Just well planned, well staged, well executed theatre
I don't know why everyone has decided that he missed this shot. [That was the only angle available, and he put it right over the bowl where it needed to go to light the gas. He would just hit the side of the bowl if he aimed lower, and he certainly wasn't going to try to shoot a high angle and drop the arrow in since the crowd is right under the bowl and a slight miss or bad wind gust would have been a disaster.](https://olympics.com/en/news/snapped-the-flaming-arrow-at-the-olympic-games-barcelona-1992)
You wonder how many times they practiced that, and you would also want to be practicing with an actual flaming arrow to get the weight and aerodynamics right.
I believe, from another comment about this a while ago, was the he was told to just get it up and over, basically just to miss.
If you look closely again, you can see the arrow behind in the background as the flame is burning.
Better to fake it and not worry about it going wrong, than to miss and look dumb.
Edit: I’ve looked up this claim, and have seen conflicting stories on if it was a wonderful shot, or was faked.
Please don’t believe exactly what I’ve said, as I can’t actually prove anything.
IIRC they practiced a bunch and he never missed. Arrow flew through the invisible gas and lit it every time.
Give an Olympic-caliber archer a target that is that big, if you count the column of gas above the cauldron, and only a hurricane-sized wind would really make it tough for him. He didn't have to land it in the bowl, anywhere like 100 feet above it still ignites the gas. For him, it looks impressive but is probably quite easy.
It's an excellent point that they're venting the gas above the bowl, so he's providing a spark of ignition to an invisible column of flammable materials. As long as the arrow moves through a very large space —which should definitely be within the abilities of a world-class archer— it was going to work and look cool doing it.
I was 7 when i watched this live.
It was so fucking cool. (Drew this moment a million times in markers)
92 olympics were the shit. It was the first time i got to watch Michael Jordan play.
Was Barcelona the last hosting city that didn't get financially ruined by hosting the Olympics? On my only European trip, I did the 'quick tour' around the Olympic Park and was surprised how relatively modest the facilities were.
It was a boon for Atlanta too, both cities saw a massive uptick in development leading up to and following the Olympics. Large parts of ATL and BCN are unrecognizable compared to 30+ years ago
That's the wider angle of the parabola picture:
https://www.lavanguardia.com/files/image_948_465/uploads/2017/06/16/5fa3ca7711e98.jpeg
It was not cheating, the whole calculation and way of igniting the gas was the one shown: The flame had to pass above the blowing gas to act as a more than effective spark... Sure, there were some other electric spark ignitors as a backup, but they were never needed.
That moment in Barcelona '92? Unreal. When that cauldron lit up, it was like the whole world held its breath. The music, the fireworks—everything just clicked. You could feel the energy, like a jolt of pure excitement running through the crowd. It wasn't just about sports; it was about unity, about everyone coming together for something bigger than themselves. It's a memory that sticks with you, ya know? A reminder of what we can achieve when we set aside our differences and celebrate together.
Imagine if a fly flew u to his eye at the exact second he was going to release it, causing him to shoot it directly into the crowd… that would have been interesting.
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This was legendary at the time. IMO we missed an opportunity to every 4 years have increasingly dramatic torch lightings. If we had, we’d be in for some trippy shit in Paris 2024
![gif](giphy|11YoTVMI3QUR4k) You should see how Denethor started the Gondor games.
Bring wood and oil.
I can't read this sentence without repeating it out loud in his voice right after.
Abandon your posts! FLEE! FLEE for your LIVES!
I literally did the same thing just before I scrolled down and saw your comment 😂
Someone bite a tomato like an animal!!!
The beacon is lit!
A man of legend. He was able to run the length of 12 football fields in 12 seconds WHILE ON FIRE.
Fire is arguably the only performance enhancement that can have a more immediate effect than drugs.
It’s true, fire is on the banned substance list for the Paris Games
Fire: banned. Child rapists: OK.
Sex with other consenting adults banned too. Only child rape is acceptable.
Si vous plait no literal fuego in votre butthole
Not only that, he then took a 5k foot drop and reeeally squashed the landing
He also ate tomatoes hard enough to make a hobbit weep. Truly a great man.
But we got an absolutely beautiful song out of it
I still wonder if Denethor had even seen a tomato before eating that one.
A man of legend. He was able to run the length of 12 football fields in 12 seconds WHILE ON FIRE. And a 5000' fall?? Was this really the size of the city of Gondor
He also had to run up like five flights of stairs I think. Then through the castle. Out of the castle. And down the massive lawn.
Should have given him the ring after all, mf could sprint his way into Mordor.
😂 ^^^ this is why I get on reddit
I need this alternate ending. Just Denethor, on fire, screaming and going full marathon mode all the way to Mt. Doom. Meanwhile Sauron and the Nazgûl are like, “Umm…guys, what do we do here?” Cut to Gollum also lighting himself on fire and sprinting after Denethor.
"WTF are you doing, Walter?"
He's waiting for Asterisk to bring him some red vines
“I’m going to need wood, gasoline, and a significant quantity of LSD. Oh, and, in case you have one in stock, a Silmaril. Oh yes, and also some red vines; thank you Astro.”
Lmao great reference guys. He could never get Astrid’s name right… damn I need to rewatch Fringe
I loved that show. It's a bummer that Lance Reddick passed =(
There's probably gonna be some car lightings
This was the first torch lighting that I was old enough to remember so I thought cool shit like this was the standard, plus I lived in Atlanta in 96. I was so disappointed by our torch.
The actual lighting was awesome. The torch itself? Looks like a McD large fry.
Ali lighting the torch? That moment still gives me chills.
More the slow crawl up a wire. Keep in mind that I was like 8. I didn't really know who Ali was.
Yeah, that was really moving. I was a child in rural Ireland and our teachers had told us the story of Ali throwing his medals away.
Ali standing there with the torch was absolutely an epic moment in Olympic history.
I enjoyed the Sydney 2000 waterfall torch lighting
It would be more french to shot the cigarette butt with two fingers (you know that cool thumb and middle finger sling) over an incredible distance.
We would just throw the president in the fire
If they're not lighting it with a huge Rube Goldberg machine in 2024, we as a society have failed.
This would have been a job for Pee Wee Herman.
Somebody get OkGo on this immediately.
They already lit the Notre Dame a couple of years before the games though...
That's dedication
Ok. What about this: Zinedine Zidane ceremonially ignites the Olympic flame by lightning his own fart on fire.
Zidane would just headbutt the torch until it lit itself in fear.
We'd end up with the olympic torch run sponsored by Red Bull Racing. There's bed a torch shaped kayak with a turbo motor, a torch shaped hang glider etc for every part of the route.
A few notes.. his name is Antonio Rebollo, he is a Paralympic archer. He's still alive at 69 years.
He looks 69 in that footage. He was seriously only 37?
The 80s aged people. I was only 8 in 1992. Already had 3 kids and grey hair.
I was born in 80. Came out with a full beard and a 2 pack a day Marlboro habit.
I was born in 80, came out with an alimony payment and bad credit.
I was born in 80 as well. But came out a Newport baby 🤷😅
I was born January 1980. I'm actually juts a lump of prostate cancer cells.
![gif](giphy|WS6vTB4ip7cLYkQm2I)
‘78 here, and smoking by age 12 thanks to the Camel Joe ads. By age 22 I was ready to retire with 10 grandchildren on the Christmas card list. My, how they grow up so fast..
Which you were allowed to buy at the local mini-mart
Ah yes, back when men were men, women were men, and kids were men with a family and a dog.
My dog has a second mortgage on her doghouse. She smokes three packs of Camels a day, non filters.
Second mortgage for a down payment on the first one because the interest is 13%.
Yeah I popped out having to pay child support and chain smoke lucky strikes after breastfeeding on black coffee
The non filters! 😂😂
Just checking in to say that I spent 45 seconds trying to wipe a hair off my phone until I realized what your icon was.
That's what you get for using light mode!
...and for not using the OG [old.reddit.com](https://old.reddit.com) Ain't got time for people's avatars, icons, and what-have-yous. Content only. No BS.
Thanks for that. I was like “icon??” I forgot there was a weird new reddit that I hate.
what archery does to a mf
Diet and natural contaminants/chemicals/fumes/smoking and drinking in the 80s were something else
How does he look that old in the footage? From the clip I would have guessed 40-45 or so.
Spaniards.
[удалено]
Isn't the story that the arrow never actually lit the flame? Not knocking what the guy did, but I swear I read a story saying that the arrow was for show and in reality they just hit a switch to turn it on as the arrow passed over.
1992: Antonio Rebollo, a three-time Paralympic medalist in archery, lit the flame from 195 feet away with the aid of a bow and arrow — or so it appeared. Fearing Rebollo would miss his mark, organizers instructed the archer to fire his arrow beyond the walls of the stadium. As the arrow soared toward the cauldron, a technician lit the natural gas flame with a remote control. The illusion worked, mesmerizing spectators and TV viewers, and the true story wasn't revealed for another 20 years (2012). A native of Barcelona, Rebollo contracted polio in both legs when he was eight months old. Source: https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/olympic-cauldron-lighters-who-lit-flame-each-olympic-games
I saw it miss at the time, but I guess it was unclear to me whether they had turned on the gas such that it still lit the fumes. So anyway TIL…
It may not have been "officially" revealed for 20 years, but there was a rumor stating that it was lit by remote control and not the arrow circulating just a couple of days after the opening ceremonies. Pre-internet and rumors still traveled faster than light.
I mean you can see the arrow fly behind it in this video lol
If they had turned on the gas, so there were a gas-oxygen mixture above the bowl, then the arrow could in theory still have ignited the flame just by flying over.
If you look closely in the video you can see the arrow go behind the cauldron. Elite camera framing though.
I think it actually went into a car in the car park outside
I was going to the Olympic games until I took an arrow to the knee.
The reason he was in the Paralympics was polio.
Wow, I would've thought he was in it because he's an archer, top class at two sports!
They have since removed competitive polio from the Olympics
I can’t tell if you guys are joking. Isn’t water polio still an Olympic sport?
I must be thinking of horse polio
Nice
Nice
Lebollas
Nice
Nice
One of the one most finely tucked shirts in history
Many tucks were given that day
Shirt tucked into pants, pants tucked into shoes
This guy tucks
He was a Paralympic with polio. I’d guess he tucked it in to not expose his legs. The fact he did it standing may have been considered incredible to begin with. Unfortunately his Wikipedia is rather short. > [> When Rebollo was eight months old, he contracted polio with both legs affected, the right one severely.” ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Rebollo?wprov=sfti1#)
Next tucking level?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/worldcup/comments/8z3b1m/french\_president\_emmanuel\_macron\_celebrating\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldcup/comments/8z3b1m/french_president_emmanuel_macron_celebrating_the/) President Macaron of France would like a word with you.
I’m convinced it was a onesie
Gotta be.
Skin-tight polo shirt and shirt-stays. You're welcome.
I remember the Seoul Olympics version of this having a bunch of Doves they set free earlier burnt to crisp in live lol.
Holy shit wut?!? 😂
![gif](giphy|Lopx9eUi34rbq)
![gif](giphy|3o6ZsW0SLwvSUm8FpK|downsized)
If you even watch it, when the fire in cauldron hit, one of he dove literally went for it, and (according to a youtube comment) the commentator apparently was very (and correctly) worried of the dove a minute before lol. I added the link lol.
> I added the link lol. don't see it
The automod filter has removed the comment with the link. Looks like they've have set it to filter all YouTube links. Makes no sense for a subreddit like this. edit: And they've set it to filter comments containing the word that is spelled "m-o-d-s" too 🙄
The m0da are pansies and scared of Rick roll
Just type on YouTube "1988 Seoul Olympics Opening Ceremony", then go to 2:09:30 Enjoy!
I remember this too, but I couldn’t recall if it was Seoul or Barcelona. Half expected to see burning birds in this clip because of it.
![gif](giphy|c2k2Ji1xmMBKnpZ9c7|downsized) The clean up afterwards
My understanding is that he deliberately overshot the cauldron for safety reasons. The arrow ignited the gas coming out of the cauldron as it passed. At least that's what's most commonly claimed. I do know the archer said it was a very easy shot for him. At the end of the day, who cares what happened. I watched it live on TV at the time and it was absolutely incredible. To me, it's still the best torch lighting, beating out '84 (those endless stairs!) and '00 (absolutely incredible).
It's also what it says in the [official report](https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll8/id/35348/rec/59): >The arrow described an arc and lit the gas issuing from the cauldron; the flame soared up to a height of three metres. The most eagerly awaited moment of the ceremony had come and gone to general acclamation Go back a page to see a photo fo the arc.
Nah, unfortunately not. "1992: Antonio Rebollo, a three-time Paralympic medalist in archery, lit the flame from 195 feet away with the aid of a bow and arrow — or so it appeared. Fearing Rebollo would miss his mark, organizers instructed the archer to fire his arrow beyond the walls of the stadium. As the arrow soared toward the cauldron, a technician lit the natural gas flame with a remote control. The illusion worked, mesmerizing spectators and TV viewers, and the true story wasn't revealed for another 20 years (2012)."
Whoever timed that button press should get a gold medal in Olympic QTEs.
hmm yeah if you look again you can see the arrow pass in the background. Still cool
lol exactly. It was clear as day to anyone who paid attention. "20 years until the true story was revealed" is just romanticism. It was well known straight away what happened.
I was like 8 years old and called it. No one would listen to my theory.
I mean imagine if he missed and they didn't have a backup plan? That would've been like the 3rd or 4th worst thing to ever happen at the Olympics......
even if the archer was a man who has hit the bullseye 1km away every single day since birth - they'd still have a backup plan like that. There was no "fearing" there, just making sure the show \*a lot\* of people are watching goes smoothly
> The arrow described an arc That Arrow: so it's like a curve, or to move with a curving trajectory
The Arrow had to explain to the Organisers exactly what it intended to do in order to get approval to perform the stunt. But seriously, I think it's just a miss translation. Putting "described" into Google Translate you get "trazar", as in, *trace, draw, plot*.
THere's three stories. All involve the shot being correctly made over the cauldron. 1. It ignited "gas" in hte cauldron. This is **highly** unlikely just because of the way that a gas flame works. It will dissipate quite quickly and the height of the arrow makes it almost impossible it lit it. 2. It ignited "gas" but there was a failsafe to light it if this didnt work with someone hitting a switch. This is very possible but it still would assume that anyone with a clue would think the gas ignition would work. 3. Someone hit a switch as it passed over. This is almost certianly what happened and is also the most commonly noted story in reliable media.
Yeah it’s definitely the 3rd one
2000 hilarious. Cathy lit the cauldron and the mechanism stalled so she had to just stand there for a while going wtf. Several years later someone called into an aussie radio station and said that like all Australian he was wrapped up in the incredible moment. Problem was that he was meant to be controlling the flow of water and the he screwed up, stalling the cauldron mechanism due to the weight of the water on it.
Yeah, but it eventually worked and was amazing.
>The arrow ignited the gas coming out of the cauldron as it passed. Claiming that one is funny considering you never see the fire start from where the arrow is, only from the bottom of the cauldron. It was also very dark. The cauldron looked you could only just see reflections on it and it was quite windy. So I can understand the safety reason if it's true.
If you slow down the video you can see it go behind the cauldron.
Blackfish at it again
Imagine Edmure Tully there. Kills multiple people with flaming arrows. Fuck you DandD for absolutely ruining an all time classic of a show
Edmure fucks up in the books too, it wasn't til season 5 that they really abandoned the source material
Yeah, but Edmure is missing the shot due to grief of his father passing, and not because he's a bad archer, or incompetent. In the books, it's a real heartwarming moment and Blackfish helps his nephew out of love, but in the show, it's played up for laughs, dunking on Edmure. D&D changed the scenes for no good reason.
Blackfish in the show: Basically a dick, does nothing, treats Edmure like a stain on his boots, Jaime admits he admires him but then he died like a chump to random men-at-arms. Blackfish in the books: Knight of the Bloody Gate, hero of the War of Ninepenny Kings, hardened fighter, loved all of his family immensely and even looked after a young Littlefinger when he might have ruined his opportunity as ward of Hoster Tully, gets stern when he has to with family but still adores them all, an absolute legend, easily evades the Frey/ Lannister scum at Riverrun and (presumably) delves into Moat Cailin to find either Howland Reed or to find Rickon Stark in exile.
Would be more unforgettable if it missed
He "missed" but fired it exactly as he should. I saw some discussion of his shot and they DIDNT want him to put it IN the cauldron because the arrow might damage the apparatus. He fired it over the cauldron, but close enough to ignite the fuel.
> but close enough to ignite the fuel. I was under the impression that it was a remote trigger and he didn't actually light the fire at all.
[You are correct.](https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/rafael-nadal-olympics-antonio-rebollo-barcelona) People WANT to believe it was "natural," but it just wasn't. In fact, you can go frame-by-frame and clearly see ignition happens AWAY from the arrow. It was all very well done, regardless.
You are correct. They simply "turned it up" as the arrow flew over. Shhhhh Great show though
Yup the whole thing was fake. They could have fired a stone with a trebuchet and the fire would still have lit.
> they DIDNT want him to put it IN the cauldron Well, also because the fans are right under the thing and an badly timed wind gust could have resulted in the flaming arrow landing in the stands. He shot it literally the only place he could.
[Battle Of Hastings Moment](https://imgur.com/a/bB2e9gD)
That's what I was thinking, they had the fuel going high enough that a match in the general vicinity would do the trick.
It was a switch, he didn’t hit anything lol
I thought it did miss - flew over the cauldron and fell behind? (I thought I remembered reading it was actually lit not by the torch, but by someone else once the arrow flew near it).
It flew through the invisible gas and lit it on fire. It wasn't supposed to drop into the cauldron itself.
That's not how gas works lol. Gas dissipates very quickly. It was absolutely someone just clicking a button to light the cauldron manually.
Could you imagine how much gas you’d need to be pumping out for that to work? With gusts of wind and people sitting below in a stadium?
It did actually, if you look at the video you can see it come out the back. Still looked well though, they always have backup plans for these things. I'd say he'd been practicing that for weeks and on the day there's a stiff damn breeze. He was probably cursing his luck.
no the arrow fired exactly as planned.
Like the Sochi Olympics where Russia messed up the Olympic logo?
Or in Vancouver, where a mechanical failure occurred during the opening ceremony. The aftermath at the closing ceremony was hilarious.
Yeah but people generally like Canada, so we can collectively forget about that and it would be ok.
I’ll forget that, but I won’t ever forget Nodar Kumaritashvili. As someone who worked those Olympic Games, that was absolutely heartbreaking.
[From the Olympics website](https://olympics.com/en/news/snapped-the-flaming-arrow-at-the-olympic-games-barcelona-1992)
It did miss , look carefully behind the torch thing , the arrow can be seen. They just ignited the torch at the same time.
Arrow still could have lit the torch while passing over?
Are you sure? Looks like two flaming fuel drips, not the arrow.
100% certainty, it was captured in this beautiful photograph by one of the photographers at the opening ceremony. [https://olympics.com/en/news/snapped-the-flaming-arrow-at-the-olympic-games-barcelona-1992](https://olympics.com/en/news/snapped-the-flaming-arrow-at-the-olympic-games-barcelona-1992) You can see the path of the arrow passing over the cauldron. It was a brilliant bit of showmanship and the fact the arrow didn't actually land in the cauldron doesn't take away from the magic of the moment one bit fwiw
Where else exactly is the arrow supposed to go? It can't hit the side or bottom, that wouldn't work. It has to go over to light the gas. Is everyone thinking he should have angled it higher to drop the arrow straight in, because I think the fans sitting right under the bowl might not have loved that idea.
They've literally admitted to using a remote control to light the fire. [https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/olympic-cauldron-lighters-who-lit-flame-each-olympic-games](https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/olympic-cauldron-lighters-who-lit-flame-each-olympic-games) The arrow was always supposed to miss for obvious reasons, but it didn't light the fire. It was just a well timed remote trigger.
There was probably a jet of gas that the arrow hit as it went over.
It did - you can see the arrow carry on passed the torch after it lights. The fire from the arrow didn't light the flame.
You realize that a flaming arrow lighting gas would continue on just like this one die, right? Gas isn't going to stop the arrow for heaven's sake.
That's just what Big Gas want you to think
I swear, there must be a dozen people commenting here who have never encountered fire in their lives before.
The amount of people here that don’t understand theater. Not everything needs to be real or fake. You can just enjoy the show.
Exactly. He didn't miss. He put it exactly there he had to, in order to achieve the dramatic effect, safely. He did, the drama was awesome. I was a small kid and I remember watching this at my mate's nan's house. Vividly. It was, and still is, awesome. It doesn't need to be dissected on the internet but even tho it has been, there is no fakery here. Just well planned, well staged, well executed theatre
I almost heard Freddie’s “Bar-se-loooooooo-naaa…..”
I LOVE that song and the performance. I watch it often.
It was the first time that me met 🎶
Barceloooooonaaaaa! Hooooow can I forget...
Barcelonaaaa!! Barcelonaaa!! 🎶
BAR CELOOOOONAAAAAA!!! https://preview.redd.it/8sgpolwugy9d1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb1c7a25be2d3f89a2353ec9e9ba242f82bd071f
For everyone information, He is an archer for the Paralympics and his name is Antonio Rebollo.
I don't know why everyone has decided that he missed this shot. [That was the only angle available, and he put it right over the bowl where it needed to go to light the gas. He would just hit the side of the bowl if he aimed lower, and he certainly wasn't going to try to shoot a high angle and drop the arrow in since the crowd is right under the bowl and a slight miss or bad wind gust would have been a disaster.](https://olympics.com/en/news/snapped-the-flaming-arrow-at-the-olympic-games-barcelona-1992)
Good thing it wasn't Edmure Tully
You wonder how many times they practiced that, and you would also want to be practicing with an actual flaming arrow to get the weight and aerodynamics right.
I believe, from another comment about this a while ago, was the he was told to just get it up and over, basically just to miss. If you look closely again, you can see the arrow behind in the background as the flame is burning. Better to fake it and not worry about it going wrong, than to miss and look dumb. Edit: I’ve looked up this claim, and have seen conflicting stories on if it was a wonderful shot, or was faked. Please don’t believe exactly what I’ve said, as I can’t actually prove anything.
[From the Olympics website](https://olympics.com/en/news/snapped-the-flaming-arrow-at-the-olympic-games-barcelona-1992).
IIRC they practiced a bunch and he never missed. Arrow flew through the invisible gas and lit it every time. Give an Olympic-caliber archer a target that is that big, if you count the column of gas above the cauldron, and only a hurricane-sized wind would really make it tough for him. He didn't have to land it in the bowl, anywhere like 100 feet above it still ignites the gas. For him, it looks impressive but is probably quite easy.
It's an excellent point that they're venting the gas above the bowl, so he's providing a spark of ignition to an invisible column of flammable materials. As long as the arrow moves through a very large space —which should definitely be within the abilities of a world-class archer— it was going to work and look cool doing it.
I was 7 when i watched this live. It was so fucking cool. (Drew this moment a million times in markers) 92 olympics were the shit. It was the first time i got to watch Michael Jordan play.
Yup, I remember this. I would have been 10 or 11.
Some hunger games type shit
Leave us alone Mel Brooks!
Was Barcelona the last hosting city that didn't get financially ruined by hosting the Olympics? On my only European trip, I did the 'quick tour' around the Olympic Park and was surprised how relatively modest the facilities were.
It was a boon for Atlanta too, both cities saw a massive uptick in development leading up to and following the Olympics. Large parts of ATL and BCN are unrecognizable compared to 30+ years ago
That's the wider angle of the parabola picture: https://www.lavanguardia.com/files/image_948_465/uploads/2017/06/16/5fa3ca7711e98.jpeg It was not cheating, the whole calculation and way of igniting the gas was the one shown: The flame had to pass above the blowing gas to act as a more than effective spark... Sure, there were some other electric spark ignitors as a backup, but they were never needed.
Edmur Tully is impressed.
There was a 2nd archer & they toasted a few pigeons.
For ones that I actually watched in real time. Mine was Ali lighting the torch in '96. This was one hell of a shot though.
That moment in Barcelona '92? Unreal. When that cauldron lit up, it was like the whole world held its breath. The music, the fireworks—everything just clicked. You could feel the energy, like a jolt of pure excitement running through the crowd. It wasn't just about sports; it was about unity, about everyone coming together for something bigger than themselves. It's a memory that sticks with you, ya know? A reminder of what we can achieve when we set aside our differences and celebrate together.
I was hoping he'd miss and just merc someone in the cheap seats with a flaming arrow through the chest.
I was 9 yo and in India and loved this moment.
I was 3 yo and in USA and loved this moment.
Imagine if a fly flew u to his eye at the exact second he was going to release it, causing him to shoot it directly into the crowd… that would have been interesting.
The Olympic flame is the one of the most amazing traditions in history from the Greeks ❤️
This hit so hard back in the day. Dude is a boss