Traditionally, the cauldron burns for the entirety of the games. London had other ideas.
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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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