The Olympic torch relay began Thursday in Marseille at the emblematic Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde basilica. Marseille football legend Basile Boli was the first to carry the torch which will arrive in Paris for the 2024 Games on July 26.
The former French international, the only scorer in the victory of Olympique de Marseille in the final of the 1993 European Champion Clubs’ Cup, started the relay just under the famous golden statue of the “Good Mother” which watches over the 2nd largest city in France.
Dressed in white like all the bearers, he then passed the baton, under a big blue sky, giving the “kiss of the torch” to Colette Cataldo, 83, historic supporter of OM, who sang “Light the fire” by Johnny Hallyday.
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“There it is, it makes the heart beat and it’s fantastic. It’s the Olympic flame, it’s the symbol of sport, of living together, of everything we can hope for in the world”commented Basile Boli afterwards.
“The start is important in sport”launched Tony Estanguet, president of the organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. “We got off to a good start… now we’re done! We’re going to deliver these moments of celebration and emotion every day” with 10,000 torchbearers in 400 cities in France until the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics (July 26 – August 11).
Marseille is the only city with Paris crossed for an entire day by the relay. The first Olympic cauldron was set alight on Wednesday evening in the Old Port by Marseille rapper Jul, in front of 150,000 people, after a grandiose maritime parade on the Mediterranean.
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