Fact Check: Viral video of lighting of Olympic torch in Paris for 2024 Games is fake

Chandigarh, July 26

A video of a flare being lit inside a cathedral followed by fireworks outside is being shared on social media platforms with the claim that it shows the lighting of the Olympic torch in a church in Paris for the Paris Olympics 2024. An initial observation revealed a discrepancy wherein the flare seems to be lit during the day while the fireworks seem to go off in the evening.

As per the YouTube video by ‘Factly’, reverse image search of key frames from the church part of the video led to an April 2021 video on the YouTube channel of Syracuse University Florence. Its description states that it shows “Scoppio del Carro” or “Explosion of the Cart” that takes place every on Easter Sunday in Piazza del Duomo in Florence, Italy. Subsequent search led to the official website of Florence city describing this event.

Reverse image search of key frames from the second part of the viral video led to the same visuals with the same audio, posted on TikTok in 2023 and on an Instagram page called Rammstein.boss. These were claimed to be from a concert by German band Rammstein in Europe. Similar fireworks were used during their EU concert in 2023, as shown on Rammstein’s official social media pages. The logo displayed on the stage in the viral video also matches the band’s logo. Also, the Olympic torch is traditionally lit in Olympia, Greece, at the site of the ancient Olympic Games. The flame is then passed to the first torchbearer, who carries it on a relay to the host city of the Olympic Games.

As scenes from two unrelated incidents from different locations are being shared as showing the lighting of the Olympic torch in Paris for the Paris Olympics 2024, this post is fake.