Lhe Olympic flame arrived in France this Wednesday evening, aboard the three-masted Belem. She was welcomed by more than 150,000 people in the Old Port of Marseille. The ceremony was impressive, but risks ending in controversy. The identity of the first three torchbearers remained partly secret, notably the one who would ignite the Olympic cauldron. Swimmer Florent Manadou and Paralympic athlete Nantenin Keïta carried the flame first. Before passing it on… to Marseille rapper Jul.
“Thank you zone! »
A real surprise, especially since several media had announced the name of Zinédine Zidane. The artist welcomed the flame with his famous hand sign and performed his song La Faille. “For me it’s an honor. I am very proud for France and for Marseille especially. Thank you area! “, he said. An honor which is far from having pleased everyone, as our colleagues at The voice of the North.
“So you have two great French athletes who are taking the first steps with the flame on French soil, all so that Jul lights the cauldron,” says an X user (ex-Twitter). “When Zidane was waiting for you and you ended up with Jul…” laments another, disappointed. “I listen to Jul myself and I like it. But frankly. These are the Olympics, not the NRJ Music Awards,” we can also read, amid dozens of reactions of the same ilk.
“We’re hitting rock bottom”
On the Facebook page of La Voix du Nord, you reacted enormously. “Is it true that we don’t have any top athletes in France? », exclaims a reader. Almost all the comments to the same effect: “Hyper disappointed, I was waiting for Zizou”, “a hell of an affront for our athletes”, “we are hitting rock bottom”, “Florent Manaudou, trained in Marseille, who won 4 Olympic medals including a gold one, a simple spectator of the lighting of the basin… what a shame.”
Jul can rest assured, he still has followers, some Internet users recalling his immense popularity and his love for the city of Marseille. The artist is the biggest record seller in the history of French rap, with more than 7 million sales recorded in 2023. He will also fill the Stade France in 2025.
At the start of the year, Aya Nakamura was also the victim of a controversy, which ended in racist attacks, because she could perform songs by Edith Piaf at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, on July 26. However, she is one of the best known French artists internationally.
