Playing on the Greek roots of the city, the organizing committee of the Paris 2024 games imagined a symbolic and spectacular reception ceremony, which was presented on Friday February 3.
by Gilles Rof (Marseille, correspondent)
The images promise to be sumptuous. The Belem, one of the oldest three-masted in Europe, all sails outside, escorted by an armada of boats, entering the harbor of Marseille to bring the Olympic flame on a few days earlier to Olympia, on the Old Port. in Greece. The Organization Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP) of Paris 2024 revealed, Friday, February 3, during a press conference at the town hall of Marseille, the scenario imagined for the arrival of the symbolic torch , a century after the last summer games in France. An “incredible staging”, according to the mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan (various left), where the ancient myth of the games marries that of the creation of his city, “former Greek colony founded by sailors”.
More prosaically, this Marseille landing will be the festive starting point for the course of the Olympic flame throughout France. A relay which must cross around sixty departments to symbolically reach the capital on July 14, 2024. “The first unmissable game of games”, for the president of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet. “It is in Marseille that it all starts, you can be proud of it, forever the first,” enthusiastic the triple Olympic champion, who is at the head of the organizing committee, thanking for “their collective commitment”, The president of the regional council, Renaud Muselier (Renaissance), the president of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and the metropolis of Aix-Marseille-Provence, Martine Vassal (various right), and the mayor of Marseille, seated at his Sides.
Tony Estanguet expressed the wish of a flame relay “like the games”: “spectacular”, “popular” and “sports”. “When we seek a city that embodies these values, Marseille is obvious” he assured, also recalling “the international opening” of the second city in France, echoing “games that want to be universal “. Present in Marseille, Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy of the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo (Socialist Party) recalled the wish of his municipality that the Olympic Games (OJ) are “the whole country”.
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The precise date of the arrival of the flame on the Old Port was not revealed. We only know that the Belem should dock in May 2024, after ten days at sea from Athens. “Little Marseillais will make the trip to Olympia to bring the flame,” announced Benoît Payan.
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