(Athens) The flame of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, lit on April 16 in Olympia, was formally handed over Friday by Greece to Tony Estanguet, president of the organizing committee, during a ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens .
She will board the three-masted Belem on Saturday to reach Marseille where she will arrive on May 8, before beginning her long journey across France.
Tony Estanguet announced that swimmer Florent Manaudou, quadruple Olympic medalist and notably Olympic champion in the 50m freestyle in 2012 in London, would be the first bearer of the flame in the Marseille city.
“It was obvious to us that the flame would return to France in the hands of an Olympian, one of the most emblematic of his generation,” said the boss of Cojo during his speech, before receiving the flame from the hands of Spyros Capralos, president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee.
“How lucky to have one of the most legendary siblings in French sport for this wonderful adventure,” he added, referring to the fact that his older sister, Laure Manaudou, had been the first French torchbearer at Olympia on April 16.
Ten days later, the relay in Greece ended during this ceremony in the historic Panathenaic Stadium, which hosted the first Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896.
“More responsible” Games
To carry the flame during the last meters of the relay in this legendary enclosure, two French champions, the ice dance skater Gabriella Papadakis, gold medalist at the Beijing Winter Games in 2022, and the former Paralympic swimmer Béatrice Hess had been chosen.
The Greek Antigoni Ntrismpioti, double European walking champion, and the captain of the Greek water polo team, Ioannis Fountoulis, silver medalist at the Tokyo Games in 2021, also had this honor.
At the Panathenaic Stadium, Nana Mouskouri, the 89-year-old Greek singer, known throughout the world, performed the anthems of Greece and France.
Then the president of the Cojo, Tony Estanguet, declared that the objective of Paris was to organize “spectacular Games, but also more responsible, which will contribute to a more inclusive society”.
The organizers want to ensure “that the largest event in the world plays an accelerating role in answering the crucial questions of our time,” added Tony Estanguet.
After spending the night at the French embassy in Athens, kept in an Olympic lantern, the flame will begin its journey to France on Saturday aboard the three-masted barque Belem, a 19th century ship.e century.
On Sunday, the ship will leave the Corinth Canal, a feat of 19th century engineeringe century built with the contribution of French banks and engineers.
After arriving in the Old Port on May 8, the flame will begin its journey to France. It will cross the country through 450 cities, also passing through the Antilles and French Polynesia, to arrive in Paris on the day of the opening ceremony of the Games, July 26. The event will be held until August 11 in an international climate marked in particular by the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
From Athens, the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra hoped, during a press briefing, that “these Games will allow the emergence of a new standard in the organization of major sporting events”. She recalled that these Olympic Games would be the first in history to be “ecological, equal and decentralized”, with events in 73 communities.
reference: www.lapresse.ca