The passing of the Olympic flame, an expense that is debated

by Elizabeth Pineau

LA BAULE, France (Reuters) – When the elected environmentalist of the Loire-Atlantique department refused to pay 180,000 euros for the passage of the Olympic flame, several municipalities broke the bank to be among the 400 stopover towns on the way of the Paris Games.

As the festivities which will open on July 26 in the capital approach, a third of the 101 French departments will not welcome the flame called to pass through 64 (besides Paris and Marseille) including five overseas territories, according to a count official.

In five departments, including Loire-Atlantique and Hérault, the municipalities organized themselves to receive it after the refusal of the General Council.

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Having left Marseille on May 8, the torch lit in Athens will pass through the country of Ancenis, Vertou, Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire and Basse-Goulaine on Wednesday before reaching La Baule, where the crowd will attend the ceremony of lighting the cauldron.

For the mayor (Les Républicains) Franck Louvrier, the city known for its arc-shaped beach lined with buildings had to spend 60,000 euros excluding festivities, out of a budget of around sixty million, to be part of the party.

Tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be one of the torchbearers expected at the end of the afternoon in the wealthy seaside town of 17,000 inhabitants in winter – ten times more in summer.

The Minister of Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, among the political figures with a family home in the area, will be there, which coincides with the La Baule show jumping, a very popular annual equestrian event.

“There was no credible argument to miss this world event. Sport is in the DNA of our city. Refusing would have been a major mistake for everyone,” Franck Louvrier told Reuters in his decorated office. a photo of Carla and Nicolas Sarkozy, of whom the mayor of La Baule was the communications advisor at the Elysée.

“VERY EXPENSIVE FOR VERY, VERY LITTLE”

If most of the people from Baule interviewed by Reuters were aware of the passage of the flame, not all of them paid attention to it, like the relative apathy observed among the French. According to an Ifop survey published Friday, 39% of those questioned are indifferent to the event, 37% are hostile and 24% are satisfied or enthusiastic.

For Anne Boyé, member of the socialist opposition on the Baule municipal council, the game is not worth the effort.

“It’s very expensive, for very, very little. The television channels will be elsewhere, in Normandy for the D-Day celebrations,” she told Reuters on the terrace of a café in La Baule, decorated with posters to the glory of the flame.

Louise Pahun, environmentalist vice-president of the Loire-Atlantique General Council in charge of Sports, also criticizes an event sponsored by brands like Coca-Cola, targeted in terms of pollution and public health, at a time when communities must tighten their belts.

“The flame is a big ticket given to the Olympic Committee and we don’t know how this windfall will flow into the sporting world,” the elected official told Reuters, who deplores the lack of transparency of the process.

In a letter dated March 11, 2022 consulted by Reuters and remaining unanswered, the Department requested details on the use of the 180,000 euros requested by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop).

In response to Reuters, Cojop specified that the cost of passing the flame was 450,000 euros, financed by the territory crossed to the tune of 150,000 euros (180,000 including tax), the rest falling to “Paris 2024 and its partners”.

Asked, the Coca-Cola group for its part highlights the “incredible fervor at the arrival of our events on the convoy which precedes the torch bearers”.

“IT FEELS GOOD”

Elected officials have expressed their doubts in the press, such as the conservative president of the Sarthe Departmental Council Dominique Le Menèr. “If it wasn’t the Olympics, we would be talking about racketeering,” he told Ouest France. The regional media have done their calculations. “Olympic flame: how much does it cost?”, headlined La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest on May 18.

At the municipal council of Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, 29,000 inhabitants, debates were heated when it came to spending some 60,000 euros – 30,000 for Cojop and the other half for celebrations including the creation of an Olympic village.

“What other opportunity will residents have to see the Olympic flame without touring the planet?” the mayor, Laurent Turquois, pleaded with Reuters.

Hervé Camus, environmentalist opponent, deplores that “the flame barely stays for an hour in the town”, where “sports associations would be happy to take advantage of the 30,000 euros”.

In La Baule, opinions are divided between those who welcome a smiling interlude in dark news, and others less enthusiastic.

“With everything that’s happening today, it feels good,” says Irène Munier, 72, when we meet her on the seaside promenade. Another retiree, Martine Wibaux, is more critical. “It’s blown out of proportion, there are more important things happening in the world,” she said. “It feels like the Pope is coming!”

(Report by Elizabeth Pineau, edited by Blandine Hénault)