the Olympic flame handed to the French before they left Greece

The flame of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be handed over this Friday to French organizers in a ceremony in Athens, before boarding the wooden-masted Belem on Saturday to reach Marseille. A symbol of unity and peace, the flame, lit on April 16 at the ancient Greek site of Olympia, must be sent after arriving at 18:30 local time (15:30 GMT) at the Panathenaic Stadium in the center of the Greek capital, according to the official program of the organizers.

Before that, the flame stopped in the morning at the emblematic site of Marathon, about 42 km from Athens, having traveled 5,000 km through Greece since it was lit, relayed by 600 people on islands and archaeological sites, including the Rock of the Rock. Acropolis in Athens.

The Papadakis-Hess duo chose to carry the flame to the Panathenaic Stadium

A duo of French champions, composed of speed skater Gabriella Papadakis, gold medalist at the 2022 Beijing Games, as well as former Paralympic swimmer Béatrice Hess, were chosen to carry the flame during the final meters of the relay at the Panathenaic Stadium.

Gabriella Papadakis and Béatrice Hess will be accompanied by two Greek athletes, the walking specialist and double European champion Antigoni Ntrismpioti, and the captain of the Greek water polo team, Ioannis Fountoulis, silver medalist at the 2021 Olympic Games. It is the latter who will light the cauldron and close the 11 the days with the relay in Greece.

In the historic enclosure of the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, the flame will be handed over to Tony Estanguet, President of the Organizing Committee of the Paris Games (Cojo) by Spyros Capralos, President of the Greek Olympic Games Committee. Greek singer Nana Mouskouri will perform the French and Greek national anthems. The French Minister of Sports and Olympics, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, and Pierre Rabadan, Deputy Mayor of Paris, will attend this ceremony which will end at around 19:25. The flame must then reach the large port of Piraeus, near Athens, and will board the wooden mast Belem on Saturday bound for Marseille.

150,000 people are expected to welcome the flame in Marseille

Around 150,000 people are expected to welcome it on May 8, and French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin indicated on Friday that 6,000 members of the police would be mobilized to secure the event, that is, as many as in September 2023 for the visit of the Pope France to the second largest city in France. On that day, the flame will enter France through Massalia, founded by the Greeks in 600 BC, Samia Ghali, deputy mayor of Marseille, said on April 16.

Before entering the old port, Belem will parade in the port of Marseille followed by 1,024 boats. Entertainment is planned on land and at sea throughout the day. “We have calibrated things to accommodate 150,000 people in an area including the old port, the end of the Canebière – the emblematic artery in the center of Marseille – the Pharo garden (which dominates the old port) or the Place aux Huiles”, also in the center , explained Samia Ghali. The evening ends with a concert by Marseille rappers Soprano and Alonzo.

The Old Port like the Corniche will be 100% pedestrianized, “there will be searches at all entrances,” said Samia Ghali. On May 9, the flame begins its journey in France, with a visit to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde or the Stade Vélodrome. It will then cross the country, also through the Antilles and French Polynesia, to arrive in Paris on the day of the opening ceremony of the Games, July 26, an event that will be held until August 11 in a marked international climate, particularly by the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

From Athens, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra also stressed that “up to 45,000” members of the police will be deployed to the opening ceremony in Paris, with the participation of 2,000 police officers from abroad including 13 Greeks. Ten to 13 million spectators are expected. in Paris for the Games, according to the Minister also hoped, during a press briefing, that “these Games will enable the emergence of a new standard in the “organization of major sporting events”. She recalled that these Olympic Games would be the first in history “ecological, equal and decentralized”, with events in 73 local communities.