The London 2012 Olympic Cauldron is lit by Austin Playfoot after it was moved to its new position in the Olympic Stadium in London Monday. — ReutersLONDON – The Olympic cauldron has been moved from its opening ceremony position at the main stadium, although it still won't be visible to the general public. Organizing committee officials said in a statement Monday that the cauldron was shifted to prepare for the track and field competition which begins Friday. Organizers say the location is an echo of the position of the cauldron at the 1948 London Games and that it will be visible via big screens at the top of the stadium. The cauldron, made up of 204 steel pipes and copper petals inscribed with the competing nations' names, was erected in the center of the stadium during the opening ceremony. It has now been moved to the south end of the stadium in the place of the giant bell that was rung by Bradley Wiggins during the ceremony. The moving process took 80 hours, during which time the Olympic Flame was transferred from a miners' lamp by Austin Playfoot, one of the torchbearers at the 1948 Games, who then lit the cauldron using a London 2012 torch. Playfoot said: ‘It was an honor to be asked to perform this important task of relighting the Cauldron in its resting position. When I ran with the Olympic Flame in Guildford I never thought I would get this close to the Cauldron, it brought me to tears when it lit up. It will be an incredible inspiration to the competing athletes here at the heart of the Olympic Park in the stadium." Thomas Heatherwick, the cauldron designer, said: “There is the precedent of the 1948 Games of the cauldron set within the stadium, to one side with the spectators, and with the technology we now have that didn't exist in 1948 it can be shared with everyone in the Olympic Park with screens. “We felt that sharing it with the screens reinforced the intimacy within it, if it had been a huge beacon lifted up in the air it would have had to be bigger, and would have somehow not met the brief that we discussed with Danny Boyle of making something that was rooted in where the people are." — Agencies
