伦敦奥运火炬传递途中意外熄灭 火炬手未传递先叫卖火炬

The torch was on the side of David Follett's wheelchair in Great Torrington, Devon, when it went out for the first time since arriving in Britain ahead of the Olympics.

A replacement flame was brought from the vehicle convoy that accompanies the torch bearers.

A spokesman for Locog said: "The flame went out due to a malfunctioning burner. It is not uncommon for a flame to go out and this can happen for a number of reasons, for example, in extreme winds.

"We keep the mother flame in specially designed miners' lanterns so if the flame does go out for some reason on the relay we re-light it from the source of the flame."

Follett, a wheelchair badminton champion from nearby Exeter, was able to continue using a substitute torch which had been lit from the mother flame.

The Olympic torches were designed in London by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, who commended its ability to withstand adverse weather and stay lit in an interview last week.

"The torch had to be economical and sustainable as well as being beautiful and strong, so it’s an incredibly complicated piece of design," they said.

"It has to function at high altitudes, sub-zero temperatures, in strong winds and also be incredibly light as so many different types of people will be carrying it."

The flame is supposed to remain alight even in high winds because of a gas burner system held in the centre of the torch which emits a gas mix that optimises flame height, colour and luminosity.

The relay is in its third day and the torch is travelling between Exeter and Taunton. Former Long jump gold medal winner Jonathan Edwards and cricketer Marcus Trescothick are among Monday's runners.

This is not the first occasion on which the Olympic flame has been extinguished in recent days. A gust of wind blew out the flame during a ceremony in Olympia, Greece while it was being held by an actress playing a high priestess who was re-enacting a scene from the ancient Olympics.

5月21号，伦敦奥运火炬英国境内传递进入第三天。就在这一天，火炬在传递过程中首次熄灭。当天的传递在英国西南部德文郡进行，英国轮椅羽毛球运动员弗利特正进行火炬传递。随后火炬里的火苗便被吹灭了，这是奥运火炬来到英国后第一次熄灭。

见此情形，一旁的火炬护卫手赶紧通知紧随其后大巴上的工作人员将装有火种的特制“矿工灯”火种罐带到熄灭的火炬旁并试图再次点燃熄灭的火炬，但并未成功点燃。工作人员立刻从随行的大巴上取了另一支火炬代替熄灭的这柄，而后点燃，火炬接力得以继续。

伦敦奥组委一位发言人表示，火炬熄灭是由于燃烧器故障导致的。她还指出，火炬熄灭并不罕见，在极端大风的天气等情况下都有可能发生。

奥运火炬是在伦敦由Edward Barber 和 Jay Osgerby设计的。在上周的一次采访中，两位设计师表示：“奥运火炬必须既美观坚固又持久耐用，因此这是一项非常复杂困难的设计。” 设计师表示，他们在实验室中模拟了时速80公里的强风、高温、零度低温、暴雨等各种极端气候现象，火炬在所有情况下都没有熄灭。

这并不是此次奥运火炬传递第一次发生故障。在希腊奥林匹亚举行的一场庆典仪式上，一位希腊女演员在扮演女祭司重现古希腊的场景时，其手中的火炬也被强风吹灭。

奥运会火炬接力刚进行了两天，有人就把自己的火炬放到网上去竞卖，并且叫价已经高达10万多英镑。在ebay网上，火炬主人说，他将在21日下午4点38分参加火炬接力，只要接力一完，他就可以将火炬快递给买家。卖家一再保证火炬是真的。卖主将火炬与其接力时穿的运动服一起出售，且再三强调，一经售出，绝不退换。