The Olympic flame carried out a maritime parade in the harbor of Marseille, aboard the three-masted Belem, before disembarking in the Old Port, in front of 150,000 people, 100 years after the last Summer Olympics in France.
To begin its journey across the bay of France’s second city, 79 days before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games (July 26-August 11), the legendary sailboat was greeted by the bagpipes, sirens and horns of the armada of 1,024 boats coming to escort it, including a gigantic container ship in the colors of the Paris 2024 Games.
In the Old Port, where the Olympic cauldron will be lit for the first time at 7:45 p.m., the crowd continued to swell throughout the day, under the surveillance of a large security system.
The Olympic flame on dry land around 7:40 p.m.
The ship entered the Old Port. In the presence of President Emmanuel Macron, Belem was welcomed by fireworks, music from the Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra and the unmissable “tifos”, these impressive banners of Olympique de Marseille supporters.
Around 7:40 p.m., the Olympic flame will disembark from Belem, in the hands of Florent Manaudou, Olympic swimming champion in 2012. The first torch bearer on French soil, he will descend onto a pontoon in the shape of an athletics track.
Then the Olympic cauldron will be lit. But suspense persists around the identity of the person who will be responsible for this mission.
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