By Robin Lopez
Published on
May 7, 24 at 6:54 p.m.
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Where and when will the Olympic flame pass, which anchors the Paris 2024 Olympic Games more and more concretely? These are two questions that have caused a lot of ink to flow for several months, while this famous flame arrives on French soil in MarseilleWednesday May 8, 2024.
This flame must bring with it the beautiful Coubertin spirit, which sticks so closely to the Olympic Games. Thousands of people are expected in the Phocaean city and in the Old Port which has been transformed for the occasion. An event to follow with our editorial staff Marseille news.
It was in the sanctuary of Olympia, in Greece, cradle of the Olympic Games, that the flame was lit on April 16. And after a long journey, during which the flame will cross many French territories, it will illuminate the Luxembourg Gardensin the French capital, location of most Olympic events.
A tour of Corsica before returning to the continent
After leaving Marseille, the Olympic torch will make a tour in the south-east and more precisely in Toulon, Manosque, Arles and Montpellierbefore jumping into the water once again, heading for the Corsica.
She will then take a tour of the Occitanie region with an attractive program: Carcassonne, Toulouse, Auch or even Tarbes. But the flame will not stop in the Tarn, since the department refused its passage, arguing that the cost is too high.
The flame will not go everywhere, because it is (very) expensive
If in the cities in which the Olympic flame is expected, it will be a day of celebration, some have decided to say no to the passage of the flame through their territory.
The main reason given is the cost, considered far too high (180,000 euros per department). Thus, it will not pass through Lyon or the Rhône. The third city in France will be one of the major absentees from the torch relay. “It’s expensive because it’s very ephemeral,” explained Christophe Guilloteau (LR), head of the Rhône Department, for - Lyon. An “unreasonable” investment according to Bruno Bernard (EELV) at the head of the Lyon Metropolis.
Same story in the Lot as well as in the Tarn, where Christophe Ramond, president of the Departmental Council, decided to refuse to spend 180,000 euros for the passage of the flame, a cost “contrary to the state of mind of the Olympic Games.” “If it weren’t for the Olympics, I would call it racketeering,” he added to our current editorial team. Occitanie.
For these reasons also, it will not pass through Orne (Normandy), although this was initially to be the case. The price necessary to see the flame pass through its territory being considered too high, “the elected officials did not follow up”, explained Patrick Joubert, collaborator of the office of the president of the Department of Orne in the columns of the Journal de l’ Orne.
65 stopover towns
In any case, the flame, whose first bearer in France will be Florent Manaudou, will then go up to the northern half via Bordeaux and the Aquitaine coast.
Past Angoulême, Poitiers, Châteauroux, Angers and Laval, it will continue its course in Normandy, in Caen. There are a total of 65 stopover cities from May 8 to July 26, 2024.
The West Indies before setting Paris ablaze
Overseas is not forgotten with an ocean relay from June 8 to 17, 2024, after a passage in Brittany then in Pays-de-la-Loire. Skipper Armel Le Cléac’h, at the helm of his Maxi catamaran Banque Populaire XI, will transport the flame to the West Indies. There will be a visit to Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion and French Polynesia.
The flame will necessarily pass on the island of Tahiti, where the surfing events will take place. The images, in a postcard frame, promise to be sumptuous.
The relay will then crisscross the Grand Est, Alsace-Lorraine and Hauts-de-Francebefore igniting Paristhe City of Lights, to officially kick off this sporting and, hopefully, festive fortnight.
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