# Are any past Olympic flames still burning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-past-olympic-flames-still-burning/623102 "2012-05-25T20:29:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-past-olympic-flames-still-burning/623102/1 "2012-05-25T20:29:51Z")
Watching the Olympic flame relay on the BBC got me thinking. Are any previous Olympic flames still surviving anywhere? I know the flame is supposed to be extinguished at the end of each Olympics, but I’m wondering if anyone took a sneaky light off one and kept it going. Keep a few copies and you could keep it going indefinitely. Make a good tourist attraction. Ever happened? If there aren’t any Olympic ones from before 2012, what is the oldest continuous man-made flame still burning? I’m thinking maybe one of the eternal flames from a war memorial maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Uzzah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/db5fbb/32.png) [@Uzzah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzzah)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-past-olympic-flames-still-burning/623102/2 "2012-05-25T21:36:09Z")
> [@Dahu](#): > > If there aren’t any Olympic ones from before 2012, what is the oldest continuous man-made flame still burning? I’m thinking maybe one of the eternal flames from a war memorial maybe? For most “eternal flames,” it’s not about preserving the lineage of the fire itself, as if that particular tongue of flame can somehow be traced ancestrally back to Prometheus. The Olympics are one of the few exceptions, where it’s the source of the fire itself that is important. (They start a new flame in Greece from sunlight every Olympiad, and keep a “mother flame” burning in a lamp. If torches or the cauldron go out, they’re re-lit from the mother flame, and the whole works are extinguished after the games are over.) For most other ceremonial eternal flames, it’s the symbolism of eternal rememberance, not the origin of the flame itself, that is the primary component. For these “eternal flames,” every once in a while, somebody needs to change the burner mechanics or fuel lines or what have you, and the flame will get turned off. When this happens, workers won’t usually, say, light a nearby candle, and then use that to re-light the eternal flame; they’ll just use an ordinary lighter to restart it when the work is done. For example, the eternal flame at JFK’s grave has gone out several times due to weather or equipment malfunctions, and when that happens, someone just busts out their Bic to restart it. Ascertaining the “oldest” one is probably an exercise in semantics. The Daishō-in temple in Japan claims to have had a flame burning continuously since the 1200s. The oldest one that can be readily verified is probably Paris’ commemorative one to WWI soldiers at the Arc de Triomphe, installed in 1921. Of course, that has also been occasionally extinguished (both for maintenance and, one one occasion, a tourist peeing on it) and re-lit. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-past-olympic-flames-still-burning/623102/3 "2012-06-01T19:24:52Z")
Hmm not many replies but to add something to my own OP I’ve spotted this: [Olympic flame for sale on ebay](http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FLAME-LONDON-2012-OLYMPIC-TORCH-/170852289802?pt=UK_Sports_Memorabilia_ET&var=&hash=item6d77062781#ht_717wt_1341) ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-past-olympic-flames-still-burning/623102/4 "2012-06-02T01:57:29Z")
> [@Uzzah](#): > > Ascertaining the “oldest” one is probably an exercise in semantics. The Daishō-in temple in Japan claims to have had a flame burning continuously since the 1200s. Udvada a Zoroastrian Fire Temple in India claims to have “the oldest continuously burning fire-temple fire in the world” dating from 1000 AD. > **[Udvada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udvada)** > > Udvada is a town situated in Pardi taluka in the Valsad district in the state of Gujarat, India. Udvada is a coastal town located around 24 km from the Valsad city. The Zoroastrian temple, Udvada Atash Behram is situated here. > The name Udvada means the 'grazing ground of camels', which it used to be before it became a fishing town. > Udvada is situated on the mouth of Kolak River. It also has a hill on the outskirts of the town. It is neighbours with Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar haveli wh...