The Olympic flame began its journey overseas on Sunday in Guyana, as part of the “ocean relay” which will then take it to Reunion, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe and Martinique. The flame began its overseas journey in Camopi, on the Brazilian border, with a Native American ceremony, noted an AFP photographer.
She should then go to Saint-Laurent du Maroni, where festivities are planned to mark the abolition of slavery, then to Kourou, where she will pass in front of the model of the Ariane 5 rocket. The flame must pass through several other towns before to end his journey in Cayenne.
In total, 120 porters must take turns on the Guyanese course including judoka Lucie Décosse, basketball player Kevin Séraphin, swimmer Malia Metella and Dany Dann, breakdancing champion, a discipline which will make its debut at the Paris Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11).
1.2 million people watched the Olympic flame travel
After the Amazon, the Olympic flame will be lit in Reunion on June 12, in Polynesia on the 13th, in Guadeloupe on the 15th and finally in Martinique on the 17th. The passage to New Caledonia, initially scheduled for June 11, has been canceled at the end of May by the government, the latter wishing to give “priority to a return to calm” in the archipelago shaken by a political crisis and violence which left eight dead, including two gendarmes.
Since the flame’s arrival in Marseille aboard the Belem, nearly 1.2 million people have witnessed its journey, according to the Ministry of the Interior.