The Olympics flame went out yesterday for the first time since the torch relay for the 2012 London Games began before being relit from a ‘mother flame’ kept on standby for mishaps.
The flame vanished while it was attached to the side of Paralympics badminton star David Follett’s wheelchair in blustery weather as he travelled through Devon in southwest England on the third day of the 8,000-mile (12,875-kilometre) relay.
“The flame went out due to a malfunctioning burner,” said a spokesperson. “It is not uncommon for a flame to go out and this can happen for a number of reasons. We keep the mother flame in specially designed miners’ lanterns so if the flame does go out for some reason on the relay we relight it from the source of the flame.”
The flame was flown from Greece, where it also went out during the lighting ceremony, and began its journey around Britain on Saturday. It is passed from torch to torch and will be carried by 8,000 torchbearers over 10 weeks ahead of the Games, which start on July 27.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2012.
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