倫敦奧運火炬傳遞途中意外熄滅 火炬手未傳遞先叫賣火炬
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.
【新聞快訊】
5月21號，倫敦奧運火炬英國境內傳遞進入第三天。就在這一天，火炬在傳遞過程中首次熄滅。當天的傳遞在英國西南部德文郡進行，英國輪椅羽毛球運動員弗利特正進行火炬傳遞。隨後火炬裏的火苗便被吹滅了，這是奧運火炬來到英國後第一次熄滅。
見此情形，一旁的火炬護衛手趕緊通知緊隨其後大巴上的工作人員將裝有火種的特製“礦工燈”火種罐帶到熄滅的火炬旁並試圖再次點燃熄滅的火炬，但並未成功點燃。工作人員立刻從隨行的大巴上取了另一支火炬代替熄滅的這柄，而後點燃，火炬接力得以繼續。
倫敦奧組委一位發言人表示，火炬熄滅是由於燃燒器故障導致的。她還指出，火炬熄滅並不罕見，在極端大風的天氣等情況下都有可能發生。
奧運火炬是在倫敦由Edward Barber 和 Jay Osgerby設計的。在上週的一次採訪中，兩位設計師表示：“奧運火炬必須既美觀堅固又持久耐用，因此這是一項非常複雜困難的設計。” 設計師表示，他們在實驗室中模擬了時速80公里的強風、高溫、零度低溫、暴雨等各種極端氣候現象，火炬在所有情況下都沒有熄滅。
這並不是此次奧運火炬傳遞第一次發生故障。在希臘奧林匹亞舉行的一場慶典儀式上，一位希臘女演員在扮演女祭司重現古希臘的場景時，其手中的火炬也被強風吹滅。
奧運會火炬接力剛進行了兩天，有人就把自己的火炬放到網上去競賣，並且叫價已經高達10萬多英鎊。在ebay網上，火炬主人說，他將在21日下午4點38分參加火炬接力，只要接力一完，他就可以將火炬快遞給買家。賣家一再保證火炬是真的。賣主將火炬與其接力時穿的運動服一起出售，且再三強調，一經售出，絕不退換。
