Who lit the 1992 Olympic cauldron by shooting a flaming arrow?

Antonio Rebollo lit the 1992 Olympic cauldron by shooting a flaming arrow over it at the Barcelona opening ceremony.

Rebollo was a Spanish Paralympic archer, making the spectacle notable not only for its theatrical precision but also for the prominence given to an athlete with a disability. The arrow was ignited from the Olympic flame and aimed over the cauldron, where it set alight gas rising from the bowl. The arrow itself continued beyond the stadium rather than landing among spectators.

The ceremony took place on July 25, 1992, at Barcelona’s Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. A common misconception is that the arrow struck the cauldron directly; the carefully engineered effect involved igniting gas above it. The moment remains one of the most visually memorable cauldron lightings in Olympic history.