The Olympic torch relay began Thursday in Marseille at the Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde basilica. Basile Boli, legend of Marseille football, was the first to carry the torch.
The ex-French international, sole scorer in Olympique de Marseille’s victory in the 1993 European Champion Clubs’ Cup final, started the relay just under the famous golden statue of the ‘Good Mother’ which watches over France’s second city, AFP journalists noted.
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 years old, historic supporter of OM. ‘That’s it, it makes your 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,’ Basile Boli commented afterwards.
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.
/ATS
