The Olympic cauldron fails to light up in Manosque in Paris – Firstpost

The Paris Olympic torch relay experienced its first glitch on Saturday when the cauldron, lit at the end of each day, stubbornly refused to ignite. During the third stage of her 78-day journey to Manosque, north of Marseille, French swimmer Ophélie-Cyrielle Etienne, bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, tried twice without success to light the cauldron with the flame.

There was a technical problem, even though the basin had been successfully lit the two previous evenings in Marseille and Toulon.

The torch relay, which will reach Paris in time for the opening ceremony on July 26, took place without incident on Saturday in the rural and mountainous setting of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

In total, the torch relay will bring together around 10,000 runners and will pass through 400 cities in France as well as certain overseas territories including Guadeloupe, New Caledonia and Reunion.