Stéphane Burgatt with AFP
modified to
12:26 p.m., February 03, 2023
The route of the Olympic flame in France, before the Paris Games, will begin in the spring of 2024 in Marseille, the first stage of its journey across the country, the organizers announced on Friday.
“It was a fairly natural and obvious choice”, declared the president of the Paris Olympics organizing committee (Cojo) Tony Estanguet, welcoming a city “passionate about sport, warm, popular and multicultural”, and also evoking the Marseille’s link with Greece, the colony Massalia having been founded by Greeks around 600 BC
FOREVER THE FIRST ✨
Marseille will be the first city to host the flame in 2024! Coming from Athens, the flame will cross the Mediterranean aboard the Belem to launch the Olympic Torch Relay
With our official sponsors we are preparing a great party for you! pic.twitter.com/8fBMiymUlh
— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) February 3, 2023
“Marseille will be the first city to host the flame in 2024! Coming from Athens, the flame will cross the Mediterranean aboard Le Belem to launch the Olympic Torch Relay,” the committee wrote on Twitter.
The complete route of the flame will soon be revealed
The flame will arrive in the spring of 2024 in Marseille aboard the Bélem, one of the oldest three-masters in Europe still sailing, after a ten-day crossing from Greece, where, as in each edition of the Games, it will have previously been lit during a ceremony at Olympia.
“After being welcomed on the French coast by an armada of boats, the Bélem will moor, kicking off a great popular celebration on the quays of the city”, the organizers further announced in a press release. “In sport, to succeed, we often say that you have to get off to a good start, that’s why it’s important for us that it’s a great popular celebration,” added Tony Estanguet.
The flame of the 2024 Olympic Games will arrive in France via the Old Port of Marseille!
It will be a big popular party to celebrate our thousand-year-old history, to bring us together and vibrate together!#Paris2024pic.twitter.com/J9fi0Ab1XE
— Benoit Payan (@BenoitPayan) February 3, 2023
“Marseille was founded by Greeks who came from Phocaea 2,600 years ago: by asking to welcome the flame to our shores, we wanted to reconnect with this great history of sharing, fraternity, diversity and solidarity”, welcomed the DVG mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan, quoted in a press release.