PARIS (AP) — The Olympic flame for the 2024 Paris Games will cross by 64 departments — together with 5 abroad — and 400 cities over 68 days earlier than the cauldron is lit.
Organizers introduced the route for the torch relay on Friday at a Paris college.
“Paris 2024 is the greatest collective project in our history,” organizing committee president Tony Estanguet stated. “The torch relay plays an important role because it has the capacity to touch so many people.”
The torch might be lit by the solar’s rays on April 16 in Ancient Olympia, Greece. It will then be carried across the nation earlier than its handover in Athens.
The flame will go away Athens on April 27 aboard a three-mast ship named Belem for the French port of Marseille – a former Greek colony based 2,600 years in the past.
The Belem was first utilized in 1896, the identical 12 months the trendy Olympics got here again. It might be skippered by French navigator Armel Le Cléac’h, winner of the solo around-the-world race Vendée Globe in 2017. The crew will attain Marseille on May 8.
After leaving Marseille, the torch relay will absorb heritage websites such the imposing Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and the two,500-year-old medieval metropolis of Carcassone. It will even path alongside the famed red-wine vineyards of Saint-Émilion and white-wine vines of Chablis.
“They are the Games of the country,” stated Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, citing French creator Victor Hugo and his theme of universality. “Paris belongs to the whole country.”
Including past its borders.
A passage in France’s abroad territories, known as the Relais des Oceans (Ocean Relay), will start on June 9 in Guyana and can take within the Reunion Island, Polynesia, Gaudeloupe and Martinique earlier than coming again to Nice on June 18.
“It’s going to be spectacular,” stated Estanguet, a three-time Olympic canoeing champion.
Continuing over land, the torch will stand up the Alpine mountain cross of Chamonix for Olympic Day on June 23 earlier than spending July 14 – referred to as Bastille Day, France’s nationwide day – and July 15 in Paris.
The torch will then tour numerous suburbs of Paris till returning by way of Seine-Saint-Denis – house to the Stade de France – earlier than arriving again in Paris.
“It’s an occasion to all come together, whatever our origins,” Hidalgo stated.
More exact particulars of the route in Paris might be given on July 5.
The location of the place the cauldron might be lit and at what time are being stored secret till the day itself, amid broad expectations will probably be on the iconic Eiffel Tower.
A complete of 10,000 folks will take part within the torch relay. The 4 captains of the relay might be Olympic swimming champions Laure Manaudou and Florent Manaudou – who’re siblings – together with Paralympians Mona Francis (triathlon) and Dimitri Pavadé (lengthy soar).
SECURITY
Local police forces liable for every part of the relay will assist with safety. Law enforcement will escort and shield the flame with a safety bubble across the torch and its provider.
A staff of eight known as “Les Gardiens de la Flamme” (The Guardians of the Flame) have been hand-picked to make sure the flame stays always lit. They have been chosen from police and navy forces following an inner competitors.
The Paris Games will run from July 26-Aug. 11, adopted by the Paralympics from Aug. 28-Sept. 8. The flame for the Paralympics might be lit within the British city of Stoke Mandeville and might be carried by 1,000 folks.
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