It was absolutely STUNNING! That part of the Olympic ceremony can always look a bit totalitarian but this was graceful, beautiful and perfectly captured the essence of the Olympics - many different elements coming together for one purpose. Just one tiny technical hitch in one of those elements would have destroyed it. The unseen engineers are stars, as big as the stars we saw on the screen last night - well done! Brilliant in all senses of the word.

Very thankful to Australia... It really was breath taking, watching the cauldron coming together. Thank you FCT... Your hard work has paid off!

Congratulations! It was breathtaking!!!

thanks for the explanation :) it's kinda lovely to see each of participating nations got one of those petals, and to watch those petal rose from the floor to merge as a single flame, but for me, a bigger cauldron would be more appropriate :)

sydney, athens, doha and now london! we aussies really are the best.

thanks!! this is really an amzing song..

actually it's definitely a brilliant idea for an olympic cauldron.. but I think bigger ones (capable of being seen outside the stadium) would be even better for the visitors.. or maybe taller ones in this case, rising up higher from the floor after all the petals have lit combined..

does someone knows what is the song that was played in the background when the 7 young atheletes ran around the stadium to light the cauldron?

funny how this video is published 2 days before the opening ceremony begun!

Great Job Aussies :)

It's a pity he made it sound like they built the whole thing! FCT designed the burners but all of the mechanical stuff was done by Stage One in the UK. Credit where credits due Mr Manias.

you missed the point, the petals had to be carried in by each country & they where quite heavy as they where, even the size they where cost a lot of money in copper alone! & we where still making these hand made petals up to last second before they had to be delivered, so gotta say they where the size they had to be, any bigger would have been a complete nightmare & never would have been finished on time