The torch of the Olympic flame for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, made in Normandy but also cherished in other French regions, embodies the alliance between technological innovation and ecological responsibility.
While she is expected in France on May 8, where she will make a remarkable entry into the Marseille harbor aboard the splendid Belem, the French three-masted ship which left Olympia a little earlier, the torch of the Olympic flame is a masterpiece in recycled steel, reflecting the pride of French workers. Manufactured in several regions, it required a complex process, from melting to laser cutting. The very successful object will serve the purpose of a reusable, rechargeable and symbolically sober torch.
The birth of the Olympic torch for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, a whole process
The Olympic torch for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is much more than a flamboyant symbol. Manufactured in Normandy, in a factory in Vire, Calvados, it represents a perfect fusion between advanced technology and ecological responsibility. The recycled steel used underlines the commitment to sustainable development, marking a significant step forward compared to the torches of previous Olympics.
The adventure begins much further down the map of France, with the melting of five tonnes of recycled scrap metal in an electric furnace in Châteauneuf, in the Loire. This carbon-free steel is then transported to Moselle, where it is rolled in Florange into a thin tongue of steel 0.7 millimeters thick, then cut into plates measuring 3 by 1.5 meters in Woippy, still in the department. Moselle. These plaques then travel to Vire, where the transformation into an Olympic torch begins.
At the Guy Degrenne factory, famous for its stainless steel tableware, workers shape the plates into half-tubes. The precision of the laser cutting is remarkable, the laser welding at 5/100th of a millimeter meticulous. It took four months to define the parameters of this weld. Then follows the challenge of molding, which undulates the metal like a wave and creates a torch with elegant lines, defying usual technological standards.
A technological tour of France for a good cause
The process does not end there, dear readers. The torch halves receive an advanced surface treatment in Ferrière-en-Brie (Seine-et-Marne) and near Saint-Quentin-Fallavier (Isère), where a satin finish and mirror polishing are added. These cutting-edge techniques, usually used in luxury and the space industry, add a touch of sophistication to the object.
The major challenge is obviously that of the final assembly, and we find ourselves once again in Vire, in Normandy, where the two parts of the torch are fitted together, integrating the burner. Custom-made boxes, manufactured by a Norman carpentry, will house these reusable, rechargeable and cleanable torches, ready to begin their journey on April 16.
This torch, which will have undergone a real technological tour of France, is only being manufactured in 2,000 copies, which will be distributed among the 11,000 designated bearers between Olympia and Paris.
Source : France 3 Regions
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