On the evening of February 4, 2022, the last surprise of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics was revealed, and the last torch was the main torch. The main torch and the way of ignition have always been the most high-profile parts of the opening ceremony. In the earliest disclosed interview about the opening ceremony this year, the general director Zhang Yimou spoiled that the ignition is expected to become the biggest highlight, "it has not appeared in the history of the Centennial Olympic Games", which can be described as satisfying the audience's appetite.
While watching the opening ceremony, many viewers wondered: Where is the main torch? In this link, the design of the main creative team of the opening ceremony is not only ingenious, but also a little cute humor: in the "Build a Snowflake" section, all the participating delegation guide cards form a huge snowflake table. This large snowflake, combined with the winding olive branches, makes up the torch stand – it has actually appeared in the audience's field of vision for a long time, until the final torch relay reveals another identity.
The magic arrow at the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and the trapeze artists at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games finally lit a raging fire. In this way, every minute, it burns a lot of fuel, from the Winter Olympics to the Winter Paralympic Games, for more than a month.
The burning torch is certainly a symbol of the Olympic spirit, but I have been wondering, is it not environmentally friendly enough? This time, the last torch no longer needs to be lit, placed on the torch stand, it is the torch. The next thing that will continue to burn for more than a month will be this small flame, which conveys the concept of low-carbon environmental protection.
It is precisely because of such a low-carbon environmental protection concept that the ignition ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics is somewhat different. Director Zhang Yimou said in an interview: "In the past, almost all the torches reflected their own culture and design, only our torches were written with the names of all delegations, and every snowflake in the world melted together, which has not appeared in a hundred years."
Although the Olympic flame of the main torch stand continues to burn only in the form of a small flame, it is surrounded by the main torch station studded with all countries, which also seems to mean that the Olympic fire needs the common protection of all countries, and peace also needs the common maintenance of all countries. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games has been successfully concluded, and I look forward to the Chinese athletes in the next competition, good results, come on!