Paris 2024 | The Olympic relay launched in Marseille with a gesture of solidarity for Ukraine

(Marseille) Started at the top of the emblematic Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica, the Olympic torch relay ended its first day in France on Thursday at the Vélodrome stadium, another symbol of Marseille, after a journey marked in particular by an impressive relay collective between the European Union and Ukraine.

The Olympic “fire” will now cross the whole of France to end its route on the banks of the Seine on July 26, and set the cauldron ablaze during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the third Parisian Games after 1900 and 1924.

It was Basile Boli, who went down in history for his victorious goal in the 1993 Champions League final, who kicked off this “scout relay” at 8:20 a.m., just under the famous golden statue of the “Good Mother”.

“Symbol of living together”

Dressed in white, like all the bearers, he then passed the baton, giving the “kiss of the torch”, to Colette Cataldo, 83, historic supporter of OM.

“It’s the Olympic flame, it’s the symbol of living together, of everything we can hope for in the world,” commented the ex-international.

“Be careful, this will pass your baton very quickly, take advantage of it! », had previously told them Tony Estanguet, president of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, just before the start of this race which will mobilize some 10,000 torchbearers in 400 cities in France.

Thursday morning, the day after the lighting of the first Olympic cauldron by the rapper Jul on the Old Port, several dozen people had climbed the hill to witness this special moment, including Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, the archbishop of Marseilles.

The torch then continued on its way, welcomed by tens of thousands of people and protected by extensive security.

For this great torch relay, a tradition born during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Marseille is the only city, with Paris, to be crossed over an entire day, over eight segments which linked all the emblematic places of the city, like the Corniche which dominates the Mediterranean, the Palais du Pharo or the large letters MARSEILLE installed Hollywood style at the northern entrance to the city.

Among the approximately 200 Marseille torchbearers, athletes, artists or anonymous, the apprentice paparazzi had a great time with some VIPs like the former French team basketball player Tony Parker or the skier Cyprien Sarrazin, author this winter of an incredible double on the legendary Kitzbühel descent.

In front of the Mucem, the museum of European and Mediterranean civilizations, on May 9, Europe Day, it was the 29-year-old high-alpine skier who symbolically received the torch from Ukrainian gymnast Maria Vysochanska, captain of the day of a collective relay of 28 athletes, with a representative from each of the 27 countries of the European Union.

Solidarity with Ukraine

Among this peloton surrounding the 21-year-old young woman, whose father fought on the front against the Russian invasion, several big names were present, including the French Olympic pole vault champion Jean Galfione or the Polish Anita Wlodarczyk, triple Olympic champion hammer throw title.

This relay “is a way of emphasizing our solidarity with Ukraine (…), at a time when they are undergoing a terrible war of aggression”, underlined the French Minister of Sports Amélie Oudea-Castera: “This is a sign of unity, hope and solidarity, we want their victory.”

To conclude this first day, football and rap were in the spotlight of the last segment up to the Vélodrome, where 10 matches of the women’s and men’s Olympic football tournaments will be held this summer.

Alonzo, after his concert on Wednesday in the Old Port, for the arrival of the flame aboard the Belem, transmitted the flame to a certain “JPP”, Jean-Pierre Papin, ex-N9 beloved of fans of the OM and Ballon d’or 1991.

Then it was Louisa Necib, also from Marseillaise and former No. 10 of the French football team, who handed over to Valentin Rongier, current captain of OM. And then it was another rapper, Soprano, who continued with the flame, during an impressive relay on the roof of the stadium.

Zinedine Zidane, another illustrious Marseillais, whose name had been circulating for the lighting of the cauldron on Wednesday, however remained invisible in Marseille, to the great dismay of many spectators who until the end hoped for a surprise.

Two former OM champions concluded the day, first with Eric Di Meco, 1993 European champion, then Didier Drogba, the former Ivorian international, who lit the second Olympic cauldron, installed on the square in front of the stadium. “Long live the flame,” he said.

The latter leaves Friday in the Var, then will travel across France, to Paris, via Mont-Saint-Michel or the Millau Viaduct.