Paris 2024 Olympics: when the Olympic flame passed through Cantal

The flame of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was lit on April 16 at the historic site of‘Olympia. She will begin her journey in Franceon May 8 at Marseillebefore reaching Paris on July 26 for the burning of the basin in the Jardin des Tuileries.

This Olympic symbol may seem inherited from the ancient games, but this is not the case. It is a ceremonial specific to the modern Olympic Games established by the Nazis during the Berlin Games in 1936. The Olympic flame, which did not exist during the ancient games, appeared for the first time during the Amsterdam Summer Games in 1928.

History of the flame

The Third Reich, quick to use Greek Antiquity for propaganda purposes, codified this ritual which requires that this flame be lit with a torch, itself ignited by means of a parabolic mirror by the sun of Olympia, the cradle of the old games, then carried, from relay to relay, to the stage where it must arrive at the right moment, during the opening ceremony.

A long journey in 1968

For the Winter Olympic Games, the first torch relay was organized during the Oslo 1952 games. In 1968, on the occasion of the Grenoble games, the organizing committee decided to give this relay “the scale of events organized for the Summer Games. For the first time […]despite the rigor of the winter weather conditions, the flame will make a very long journey, alternately on roads and through the mountains”[1].

As usual, the flame was lit on December 17, 1967 in Olympia, then it was transferred to Athens where it was solemnly handed over by the Hellenic Olympic Committee to the representatives of the Organizing Committee. Embarking on Tuesday, December 19 at 1:30 p.m., aboard an Air France plane, she arrived at Orly at 3:35 p.m., before undertaking, the next day, a journey of 7,222 kilometers, comprising 50 stages, passing through most of major French cities and crossing all the mountain ranges: Vosges, the Jura, the Massif Central, the Pyrenees, Corsica and the Alps.

Entry into Cantal in January 1968

This is how on January 2, 1968, the convoy entered the Cantal coming from Egliseneuve-d’Entraigues (Puy-de-Dôme) shortly after 1:30 p.m. and heads towards Saint-Flour where the flame should arrive at 2:30 p.m. via Condat, Marcenat, Allanche, Neussargues and Talizat. This first stage is called “neutralized” because it is carried out using vehicles.

As required by the Organizing Committee, the flame must be transported in an open car in the presence of an athlete in sports attire, accompanying the flame, standing. The speed of the caravan must not exceed 30 km/h. It was, unfortunately, without taking into account the vagaries of the Cantal weather because as the press reports: “the flame was transported in a gendarmerie “Jeep”, not uncovered due to bad weather”[3].

The snow takes its toll

The snow also affects the very precise timing of the program since the convoy is already two hours late when it arrives at Saint-Flour. After a short Sanflorine ceremony, the caravan takes the road towards Murat where, despite the delay, it follows the planned program. The Murat crossing lasts 15 minutes: support of the flame at the Pont de Notre-Dame by members of the Union Sportive Murataise for a first relay of 400 meters by a bearer escorted by 6 young people, second relay under the same conditions 3 minutes later at the Faubourg Notre-Dame crossroads, arrival at Place de l’Hôtel de Ville for a 5-minute reception by the mayor, support of the flame by Murat Ski for two relays of 400 and 500 meters until exit the town towards Lioran.

In Lioran

In Lioran, the snowstorm forces the personalities to shorten the scheduled ceremony. After being carried to the Sagnes meadow by skiers and presented to the crowd, the flame leaves Lioran at 6 p.m., the time at which it was to arrive in Aurillac, where it finally does not arrive until 7:15 p.m.

Arrival at Aurillac

Despite the delay, the cold and the snow, as evidenced by press clippings and photographs, several thousand Aurillacois are still present around the Square to welcome the Olympic flame. They witness the arrival of the last two torchbearers, the Aurillacois Jean Malroux, in skiing outfit, and the Sanfloraine, Simone Grimal (ex Simone Henry) dressed in her tracksuit from the French athletics team of which she was a member at the 1956 Melbourne games.

At the courthouse

The two champions thus end their race at the top of the grand staircase of the courthouse where there is the basin in which Jean Malroux sets fire. The basin, on a grandstand adorned with flags and Olympic rings, burns all night under the care of members of different Aurillacois sports clubs: Aero Club, Para Club, Stade Aurillacois, Géraldienne, Ski Club, Cantalienne, Sporting and Union Cycliste Aurillacoise . She leaves the next day towards the Stade Jean Alric where after a lap of the track, she is handed over by the mayor of Aurillac to the car which will take her to Corrèze.

ADC rating: 3 SC 8889. Document written by Nicolas Laparra.

1) Organizing Committee for the 10th Olympic Winter Games 1968 Grenoble, press conference of October 9, 1967 (ADC symbol: 3 SC 8889).
3) The Mountain of January 5, 1968.

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