Olympic flame passes through 400 cities in 68 days

PARIS –

The Olympic flame for the 2024 Paris Games will pass through 64 departments – including five overseas – and 400 cities for 68 days before lighting the cauldron.

The organizers announced the route for the torch relay at a university in Paris on Friday.

“Paris 2024 is the largest collective project in our history,” said the president of the organizing committee, Tony Estanguet. “The torch relay plays an important role because it can touch so many people.”

The torch is lit by rays of the sun in ancient Olympia, Greece, on April 16. It will then be carried around the country before being handed over in Athens.

The flame will leave Athens on April 27 aboard a three-master named Belem to the French port city of Marseille, a former Greek colony founded 2,600 years ago.

The Belem was first used in 1896, the same year the modern Olympics returned. It will be piloted by French navigator Armel Le Cleac’h, winner of the 2017 Vendee Globe solo race. The crew will reach Marseille on May 8.

Leaving Marseille, the torchlight procession passes heritage sites such as the imposing Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and the 2,500-year-old medieval city of Carcassone. It will also pass by the famous red vines of Saint-Emilion and white vines of Chablis.

“It’s the Games of the country,” said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, referring to French author Victor Hugo and his theme of universality. “Paris belongs to the whole country.”

Even beyond borders.

A passage in France’s overseas territories called the Relais des Oceans (Ocean Relay) will begin in Guyana on June 9 and will call in Reunion Island, Polynesia, Gaudeloupe and Martinique before returning to Nice on June 18.

“It’s going to be spectacular,” said Estanguet, a three-time Olympic canoe champion.

Continuing overland, the torch will climb the Alpine mountain pass of Chamonix for Olympic Day on June 23, before spending July 14 – known as Bastille Day, France’s national holiday – and July 15 in Paris.

The Torch will then tour various suburbs of Paris until returning via Seine-Saint-Denis – home to the Stade de France – before returning to Paris.

“It’s an opportunity to all come together, regardless of our origins,” Hidalgo said.

Further details about the route in Paris will be announced on July 5.

The location where the cauldron will be lit and what time is being kept secret until the day itself, amid widespread anticipation it will be at the iconic Eiffel Tower.

A total of 10,000 people will participate in the torch relay. The four captains of the relay are Olympic swimming champions Laure Manaudou and Florent Manaudou – siblings – along with Paralympians Mona Francis (triathlon) and Dimitri Pavade (long jump).

SECURITY

Local police forces responsible for each section of the relay will assist with security. Law enforcement officers will guide and protect the flame with a safety bell around the torch and holder.

A team of eight called “Les Gardiens de la Flamme” (The Guardians of the Flame) are hand-picked to ensure that the flame burns constantly. They were selected from the police and the army after an internal competition.

The Paris Games will take place from July 26 to August. 11, followed by the Paralympics Aug. 28-Sept. 8. The flame for the Paralympic Games is lit in the British city of Stoke Mandeville and is carried by 1,000 people.

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