Anyone Got A Light? Cloudy Skies Complicate The Olympic Torch Lighting Ceremony

The Olympics are Paris-bound this year, and as per usual, the Olympic torch has to make its way from Greece, the birthplace of the Olympics, and around the world to the host city.

However, the Games hit a bit of a snafu with the torch lighting and it was all thanks to some cloud cover.

I'm not sure how I thought they lit the Olympic torch. I never really thought about it until now. If I had to wager a guess, I would've thought someone used one of those long-neck lighters that you use when the starter on your grill breaks.

But no, they go for a much more Vegas-y approach.

According to the Associated Press, the way it typically works is that a woman dressed like an ancient Greek priestess takes the torch and uses a parabolic mirror that focuses the sun's rays and lights the torch.

Unfortunately, this time around, it was a cloudy day in Olympia, which made it hard for the woman cosplaying as a priestess to go with the "light the torch like a trouble-making kid lighting ants on fire" method, which is meant as a tribute to the ancient Greek god, Apollo.

This meant that the woman didn't even bother with the mirror nonsense and went right for the backup fire which they kept in a little cauldron.

Ironically, just a few minutes later, the sun came out.

I'm a little disappointed that the Olympics is that prepared. I mean, they know their way around a torch-lightin', but I would love to see what would happen if they had no way to light it.

How funny would it be to watch the priestess asking people in the crowd for a Bic so we could get this torch relay going? Would anything be funnier than seeing them light the Olympic torch off of some guy's cigarette?

The answers to those questions are "very" and "no" respectively.

The torch will now go on a sightseeing tour around Greece before arriving in Athens on April 26. It will arrive in Marseille, France on May 8 at which point it will bounce around the country until the Games get started on July 26 in Paris.