After a grandiose maritime parade along Marseille aboard the three-masted Belem, the Olympic flame entered French soil in the Marseille city on Wednesday evening, 79 days before the opening of the Paris Olympic Games on July 26 .
The Belem, which left Greece twelve days ago, reached the Old Port at 7:05 p.m., this Lacydon cove where the Greeks founded Massalia 2,600 years ago, and where 150,000 people awaited it.
At the bow of the ship, the Olympic torch was brandished by Florent Manaudou, Olympic swimming champion in 2012 in London, to the applause of the crowd. He then passed the flame to Paralympic athletics champion Nantenin Keita before French rap star Jul lit the Olympic cauldron.
Biodegradable confetti
In the presence of President Emmanuel Macron, Belem was welcomed by a Marseillaise, by fireworks “biodegradable recycled confetti”, by the flight over the planes of the French patrol, which drew the Olympic rings in the sky, and by the unmissable “tifos”, these impressive banners of the supporters of the Olympique de Marseille.
“The arrival of the flame in Marseille is very symbolic, this Phocaean city founded by the Greeks is a symbol of our friendship”, the Greek ambassador to France, Dimitrios Zevelakis, testified to AFP during the day, recalling that since Antiquity the Games were “a chance for peace”.
Departing from the north of the city, with an escort of a thousand ships, the Belem had previously paraded all day facing the city to the south, from Estaque to Goudes, notably via the Catalans and Prado beaches. .
The Olympic flame will now tour France for 79 days until its arrival in Paris for the opening ceremony on July 26.
The first cauldron of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games was lit on Wednesday at 7:35 p.m. in Marseille by Jul, French rap star, in front of a crowd gathered in the Old Port of France’s second city.
2024 Olympic Games Paris Olympic Games Sport Olympic Flame
