The Olympic flame will cross the Vienne department on Saturday May 25, 2024: it will leave Loudun at 8:45 a.m., pass through Châtellerault, Neuville-de-Poitou, Château-Larcher, Charroux, Montmorillon and Poitiers before arriving at the Arena Futuroscope. Details of the activities offered in Poitiers were presented by Charles Reverchon Billot, vice-president of Grand Poitiers, surrounded by Pascale Guittet, vice-president of the Department, and numerous partners, Monday May 6, 2024.
Two entertainment villages and highlights along the route
From the Golden Triangle to the Palace. The flame’s journey will be 4.5 km, between the Triangle-d’Or park, in Trois-Cités, at 5:20 p.m., and the Palais, in the city center, at 6:30 p.m. It will take the streets of Faubourg-Saint-Cyprien and Fief-de-Grimoire, the promenade des Cours, the Saint-Cyprien bridge, the boulevard Anatole-France, the rue Jean-Jaurès, the rue du Puygarreau, the place Leclerc (in front of the Hôtel de city, passage of the flame at 6:10 p.m.), rue Victor-Hugo, place Aristide-Briand (in front of the prefecture), rue des Écossais, Pétonnet and Hulin and place Alphonse-Lepetit.
The torchbearers. Twenty individual torchbearers will carry the flame on this segment, for an average of 200 meters each. All the names of these carriers have not yet been revealed by the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games. Only the names of the four carriers proposed by Grand Poitiers are known: Jianan Yuan, table tennis player who plays for the French team, and Anne Divet, table paratennis champion, both licensed at TTACC 86, Geoffrey Wersy, paratriathlete from Stade Poitevin, and Mohammed Diakité, rising basketball star. A collective of twenty-four gymnasts will perform a collective relay along the 800 meters of rue Victor-Hugo. Elsewhere in Vienne, a few names are already known, including Émilie Le Pennec, gold medalist gymnast at the Athens Olympics in 2004, or Earvin Ngapeth, volleyball player trained in Poitiers, gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Highlights along the route. Promenade des Cours, the public will be able to attend an acrobatic stilt show with Le Cercle, from 4:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Near the Saint-Jean baptistery, the Brazilian brass band Batucabraz will play from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Palace, the last torchbearer will enter the building with the torch, before returning to the steps, where the flame will be replaced in a lantern (the torch will then be relighted for the last stage at the Arena). The public will be able to watch the torch being extinguished from Place Lepetit (controlled access from 5 p.m.). An artistic fencing show will be presented in the Palais from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. (registration required at the Palais only).
Two entertainment villages. At the Triangle-d’Or, the Flame Start Village will host multiple events from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (access subject to control, capacity of 3,000 places). Flash mob for schoolchildren, sports initiations, games, military band, breakdancing, concert, champions’ course with the army… will follow one another all day long. The Arrival Village, Place Leclerc, will be able to accommodate 2,520 people at a time, from 2 p.m. to midnight: here again, sporting, fun and cultural activities will follow one another. The entire journey of the flame through the city will be broadcast on a giant screen in these two villages.
Athlete Nicole Ramalalanirina (right) will be the godmother of the Poitiers stage of the Olympic torch relay.
© (Photo NR CP)
A godmother and a godfather. Nicole Ramalalanirina, an athlete who participated in four editions of the Olympic Games between 1992 and 2004, is the godmother of this stage of the flame. She will be present at the Triangle-d’Or: “I will share my experience and discuss the values of Olympism. I hope this event will be a springboard for high-level sport. » As for the sponsor of the day, it is the TTACC 86 table tennis club, which will also offer activities at the Triangle-d’Or. The Poitiers stage was also chosen by the Organizing Committee to highlight the French Gymnastics Federation, with several events at Place Leclerc and on the route.
Big budget and big device. Grand Poitiers did not communicate the cost of this day, but the amount of €270,000 had been mentioned previously, during debates in the departmental council. On D-day, Poitiers and Grand Poitiers will deploy 200 agents and enormous logistics. Security measures will be drastic.
How to get around
Parking will be prohibited on the entire route and adjacent streets from May 24 at 12 p.m. to May 25 at 8 p.m.
Traffic will be prohibited there on May 25 from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Near the Triangle-d’Or, closing from 9 a.m. Around Place Leclerc, closed until midnight.
The city center car parks will be open (except Cordeliers between 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.).
The bus network will be free. Free shuttles will operate between the park and ride areas and the entertainment villages. Additional bicycle parking spaces will be installed.
