Beaming, the former OM defender descended the 422 interior steps of the Tower before posing for the media at the top of the exterior stairs. An unforgettable moment, as he recounted a few minutes later: “Up there, we say to ourselves, wow, we’re the first… In thirty seconds, we experience something special. Even if we are not on the field, I have never been an Olympic champion, holding the flame, there are stories around… I think of Jesse Owens, I think of 68 and the three black Americans, I think of things, to all the French athletes who won the games, who won a medal. In thirty seconds, all this happens“.
“Mission accomplished”
Arriving at the bottom of the stairs of the basilica, the unforgettable scorer, who gave OM the Champions League in 1993, handed over to Colette Cataldo, the Marseille club’s biggest supporter. The two flames then embraced each other under the clicking of the photographers then the emblematic 83-year-old founder of the Dodgers, visibly very moved, carried the flame in “his neighborhood of heart“two minutes for 200 meters.”Mission accomplished, I’m happy, I didn’t make a mistake, smiles a few minutes later the one some people call Mamie Cataldo. At my age, the flame is as if I had won the lottery!“
The unconditional OM fan had been training in recent days, as she confided: “I have a small stone path next to my house, my husband gave me a hammer of about 1.5 km, I walked with it. But here, today, I walked slowly, to enjoy“. At his side, Tony Estanguet smiles: “Colette is our most conscientious flame bearer“. Yesterday morning, the president of Paris 2024 savored the moment: “Starting from the top of the basilica is not nothing, it is unique images. Starting the torch relay at the top of the basilica and having this 1st relay between Basile Boli, legendary OM scorer and with Colette, 82 years old, biggest supporter, it’s a beautiful symbol“.
