This year’s Olympic flame isn’t a flame at all—and that’s a good thing

Instead of using natural gas, Paris went with a more sustainable option to meet its carbon emissions goals.

Paris wasted no time in making the Olympics its own, with an opening ceremony that had everything from a mostly naked blue Dionysus lounging on a barge to Marie Antoinette’s disembodied head as part of a heavy-metal band’s performance, to a ménage à trois. But the most unusual part of the 2024 Olympics might be the most traditional: the Olympic flame.