After 12 days of sailing on the three-masted ship “Belem” from Greece, the Olympic flame docks on Wednesday in Marseille, where another 150,000 people are expected to greet it, surrounded by exceptional security measures, less than three months before the Paris Games.
It is the first time that the flame arrives in France for a Summer Games because if Paris already hosted the Olympic Games, in 1900 and 1924, the precept of the Olympic flame was not inaugurated until 1928, at the Amsterdam Games. Its last stop dates back to 1992 and the Winter Olympics in Albertville (Savoie), after a first stop in 1968, for those in Grenoble.
Lit on April 16 in Olympia, one hundred days before the opening rite of the Olympic Games in Paris (July 26 to August 11), the Olympic torch will begin its French adventure over the ancient port of Marseilles, having discovered the ancient “Massalia”. 2,600 years ago through Greek sailors, in the presence of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron. “The common thread of this arrival of the flame is the story of those Greeks who set out thousands of years ago across the Mediterranean to reach Marseilles. and I discovered the city,” insisted Mayor Benoît Payan.
Leaving the majestic “Belem”, a course that dates back to 1896, the year of the first Games of the modern era, the first torchbearer will be the French swimmer Florent Manaudou. A four-time Olympic medallist and winner of the 50m freestyle in London in 2012, the boy who is still a member of the Círculo de Nageurs de Marseille will be aiming for a medal in Paris.
On April 16, at the former site of Olympia, it was her sister Laure, also a swimmer, Olympic champion and triple medalist in 2004, who was the first French torchbearer after lighting the flos angelesme. After returning to the dry Angels and a floating athletics track, Florent Manaudou will head to the Quai de los angeles Fraternité, at the end of the mythical Canebière, where the Olympic cauldron will be lit at around 7:45 p. m. By him or by a star guest like Marseille-born Zinedine Zidane?The suspense remains.
Previously, the “Belem” will have been the center of a day of celebration, with a gigantic maritime parade in which 1,024 boats will accompany the three-masted vessel in the port of Marseille. Around 7:00 p. m. , your access to Old El Puerto will be enjoyed through a fireworks display, the Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra and the unmissable “tifos”, the impressive banners of the fans of OM, the emblematic football club of the city.
Then, the night will continue with a great concert, presented by Marseille rappers Soprano and Alonzo. “We are going to do something beautiful, great, sober and popular at the same time,” promised Benoît Payan, assuring that everything will be “free from morning to night, until the concert, and for everyone. “
While the government waits for another 150,000 people in the vicinity of the Old Port, a security formula described as exceptional will be implemented, in a tense external climate, marked by the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
More than 6,000 members of the security forces will be mobilized, in addition to police from the Raid’s elite teams, deminers, members of the nautical brigades, Rafale aircraft and an anti-drone device. Including the agents dependent on the city’s corridor (firefighters, security personnel, municipal police, etc. ), they will be added to another 8,500 people and will exceed those deployed in September 2023 for Pope Francis’ stopover.
Spectators will be frisked and the more than 3,000 boats moored in the Old Port will be cleared of mines starting Monday, while divers search the waves.
“The arrival of ‘Belem’ marks a new time, the arrival of the flame will gladden hearts,” President Macron said in an interview with La Tribune media outlets on Sunday and La Provence, as discussions began on the 3 billion to 5 billion euros. of the public money that the Olympics are expected to cost. “It’s public money well spent,” he added, referring to “long-term investments, at the service of the French people. “
On Thursday, the flos angelesme will begin its adventure through Paris, the entire country, adding the West Indies and French Polynesia. This long “torch relos angelesy”, which will pass through the duct of Millos angelesu, the castles of the Loire, the D-The day on the beaches of Los Angeles and Mont-Saint-Michel will begin in the morning at Notre-Dame des Angeles Garde, the “Good Mother” overlooking Marseilles.
On Thursday afternoon, the Olympic fireplace will be lit in a cauldron installed in front of the Stade Vélodrome, emblem of the Mediterranean city. It will then continue to Paris, where the Olympic cauldron will be lit on July 26, the day of the Opening Ceremony. On 28 August, the Paralympic flame, lit in Great Britain, will arrive in Paris for the Paralympic Games (28 August to 8 September).
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