Posts misidentify old videos as Paris Olympics torch lighting

CLAIM: A video shows the Olympic torch being lit at a church in Paris.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video is a combination of two unrelated clips, neither of which has anything to do with the 2024 Paris Olympics. One from 2023 shows an Easter tradition in Florence, Italy, called the Scoppio del Carro, which translates to the Explosion of the Cart. The other shows a 2023 concert performed by German band Rammstein.

THE FACTS: Amid the Games’ opening ceremony on Friday, social media users falsely claimed that the clips are from the Olympic torch relay.

In the first, a small rocket flies out of a church after a clergy member lights its tail on fire. The video transitions to the second clip so that the rocket then appears to hit a large tower, igniting fireworks and large plumes of flames.

“Lighting of the olympic torch, from a París church,” reads one X post that had received more than 6,700 likes and shares as of Friday. “Spectacular!” The user acknowledged in a follow-up post that the first clip was not filmed in Paris.

But neither clip is at all related to the Summer Games.

The first shows the Scoppio del Carro, an Easter tradition celebrated in Florence. As part of the complex ritual, the archbishop of Florence lights a dove-shaped rocket called the Colombiana symbolizing the Holy Spirit, according to the city’s tourism website. The rocket then flies out of the city’s cathedral on a wire and sets off fireworks stored in an ornate, centuries-old cart outside the church.

Firenze TV, an Italian broadcaster based in Florence, posted the clip on TikTok in 2023. “Also for this year the flight of the Colombiana was perfect,” reads a caption on the video, written in Italian. “An extraordinary show, Happy Easter.”

Distinct architectural details, such as three stained glass windows behind the altar and a large clock above the main door, can be seen in the clip and on the website of the Florence cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore.

The second clip is from a 2023 concert performed by Rammstein, a German industrial metal band. Rammstein went on a European stadium tour in 2023 and although it is unclear which city the clip shows, the same stunt can be seen in images posted on the group’s official Instagram.

A modern tradition, the Olympic torch relay for the Paris Games began in April at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece, where the first torch was lit. The flame then traveled to France by boat, where it was passed among 11,000 torchbearers on a tour of the country. Finally, it was used to light the Olympic Cauldron in Paris at the end of the opening ceremony.
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This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.