Montjuic, the torch tower & Olympic cauldron

Olympic Torch Sculpture #4. Montjuic, Barcelona, 2013

I spent a good hour here, just after sunrise, playing with the form of the giant white Olympic torch, an abstract sculpture depicting an athlete holding a torch (actually a 446-foot tall telecommunications tower). It was built for the 1992 Olympic Games and is visible for miles around, planted as it is on the heights of Montjuic.The actual torch that held the Olympic flame is much smaller and just up the hill a bit from the big sculpture. You’ll find it stuck to the street side of the stadium and it looks something like this:

Olympic Cauldron. Montjuic, Barcelona, 2013

Now it is trivia time…If you remember the opening ceremonies of those Olympic Games, an archer shot a flaming arrow into the Olympic torch cauldron itself to light the flame–at least that is what it looked like on TV.

Here is the best information I could find on this incredible shot…In reality, the para-Olympic archer, Antonio Rebollo, shot slightly over the torch and extra gas was released at the same time, so the arrow apparently did light the Olympic flame, but only because it passed through a large cloud of gas above the cauldron. He was capable of hitting the torch itself–and it is said he did it in practice–but there was fear that he would damage the structure in some way (worst case: hit a gas line). Googling around, I could find no formal confirmation of this story–it would be nice to know the actual, official details. (There is, though, an official 1992 Olympic Games report I am trying to peruse for this info.)

In the YouTube video (5:46 run time) below, you can see for yourself the arrival of the runner, Herminio Menéndez, and Antonio’s famous William Tell imitation, albeit with a longbow rather than a crossbow. Fast forward to about 4:30 if you just want to see the shot.