Traditionally, the cauldron burns for the entirety of the games. London had other ideas.
This is the Olympic cauldron on Friday night. Seven young athletes lit it while an estimated one billion people watched.
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This is the Olympic cauldron on Sunday. The flame was extinguished so the cauldron could be moved.
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It took 80 hours to move the 204 copper pots and steel pipes.
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But the actual flame never went out. It was transferred to a miners’ lamp, and carried by 1948 torchbearer Austin Playfoot.
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