Ian Thorpe's Olympic Flame Out

Ian Thorpe laughed as the flame in the cauldron sputtered and died before being relit.
Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe had to deal with a degree of embarrassment after running the final leg of the torch relay in Canberra today.

The cauldron lit by Thorpe with the torch went out almost as soon as it ignited.

A few minutes of awkwardness ensued as technicians struggled to relight the cauldron.

It was a minor error to end a torch relay of minor incidents.

Canberra is the 15th stop of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay. Canberra, capital of Australia, April 24, 2008.