From the Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica to the Vélodrome stadium: the Olympic torch relay completed its first day in France on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. after a journey greeted by thousands of spectators. Football served as the common theme of the day: Basile Boli, who passed into posterity with his winning goal for OM in the 1993 Champions League final, lit the flame at the start of the morning. Didier Drogba, another Olympian legend, was the last of the 200 carriers of the day.
Alonzo, Necib and Papin in the relay
Throughout the day, anonymous people and personalities took turns across the eight sectors of France’s second city. The organizers chose emblematic carriers before arriving at the Vélodrome: the rapper Alonzo first, then the 1991 Ballon d’Or Jean-Pierre Papin, ex-goleador of OM, or even Louisa Necib, Marseillaise and former number 10 of the French team, who was the first to enter the stadium pitch. “Very happy, very proud also to have participated, that it was yesterday (Wednesday, during his concert in the Old Port) or today (this Thursday)at the start of the Olympic Games, in the most beautiful city in France »commented Alonzo after his stint.
Soprano’s impressive relay
Valentin Rongier, current captain of OM, then walked along the empty stands then crossed the field passing through the central circle covered with a flag in the colors of Marseille. Then he went up the aisles of the stands to the roof of the stadium, where the rapper Soprano, another child from the impoverished neighborhoods in the north of the city, was waiting for him. Very smiling, “Sopra” then carried out an impressive relay on a narrow corridor-staircase, along the undulating design of the roof, before passing the Olympic light to OM midfielder Jenny Perret, 23 years old. And so it was the young woman, after a long journey on the roof, who passed the flame to Éric Di Meco, another 1993 European champion with OM. Didier Drogba lit the cauldron to end the day.
