CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA: Five-time gold medalist Ian Thorpe's enthusiasm for the Olympic torch remained undimmed Thursday (April 24), even after his attempt to ignite a cauldron with the Olympic flame failed due to a technical glitch.

The torch's sole appearance in Australia was meant to culminate in the former swimming star using a flaming baton to light the cauldron before a cheering crowd in Canberra.

But seconds after Thorpe lit the cauldron, one of the Chinese "flame attendants" approached him and turned off his torch. However, the cauldron's flame then went out, leaving the bemused swimmer standing on stage with the extinguished torch resting on his shoulder next to an unlit cauldron.

The star then addressed the crowd as "flame attendants" rushed to rekindle the cauldron with a lantern lit from the original flame ignited last month when the relay began in Olympia, Greece.

"It was very exciting ... it was incredible," Thorpe said of his participation in the relay, which has been marred by protests over China's crackdown in Tibet.

Canberra relay organiser Ted Quinlan said there was a problem with the gas feed to the cauldron shortly after Thorpe performed the lighting ceremony.

"I think somebody had a little difficulty with a throttle on the flame there on the cauldron," Quinland told Sky News.

"It went out once and went down fairly low a second time but I don't think that really mattered much.