It was in the ancient sanctuary of Olympia, in front of the ruins of the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, that the flame was lit for the Games, which will be held from July 26 to August 11, at around 12:15 p. m. local time (09:15 GMT).
But because of the cloudy skies in the first Olympic Games of ancient times, lighting could not be done with sunbeams as the ancient culture dictated.
It was performed with a reserve flame that maintained Monday’s dress practice session thanks to the intervention of “priestesses” who dressed in long, soft dresses animated through the garments of the ancient Greeks.
The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the German Thomas Bach, insisted on the message of “hope” transmitted by the Olympic flame, of peace in ancient times, in an external climate marked in particular by the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. This.
– ‘Hope’ –
“In all our hearts we long for anything that will bring us together again, anything that will unify us, anything that gives us hope,” he said.
“The Olympic flame that we light symbolises this hope,” said the German in the presence of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the French Minister of Sports and Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, and the Mayor of Paris, Ana Hidalgo.
The president of the Paris Organising Committee, Tony Estanguet, also saw in those Olympic Games “more than ever a force of inspiration . . . for all of us and for future generations. “
The torch was then taken to the old stadium to be passed on to the first relay, Greece’s Stefanos Ntouskos, Olympic rowing champion at Tokyo 2021, who also lifted an olive branch.
All smiles, swimmer Laure Manaudou, who won her Olympic name in the 400m freestyle at the Athens Olympics in 2004, triumphed as the first French relay runner.
“It’s a moment and a chance to be here,” she said, referring to her “pride” and “joy” of being the first French torchbearer. “I hope all torchbearers feel that way. “
“We’re counting on you to quell the fire!” Tony Estanguet had said a while before.
The Olympic flame will now embark on a great adventure that will take her to Paris on July 26.
As one of the greatest symbolic moments related to the Games, the relays bring a message of peace.
– Six hundred relays –
Six hundred torchbearers will pass the torch during the 11-day tour of Greece, traveling 5,000 kilometers through seven islands, ten archaeological sites and on Friday the Rock of the Acropolis, where it will spend an afternoon by the Parthenon.
It has finally arrived at the port of Piraeus, south of Athens, and will embark on April 26 aboard the three-masted Belem bound for Marseille in southeastern France, where an additional 150,000 people are expected to greet it on May 8.
From this date, the symbol of the Olympic Games will cross the whole of France, passing through the West Indies and French Polynesia, to arrive in Paris on the day of the opening ceremony.
In Paris, on the eve of the lighting of the flame, Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday the countdown to the Olympic Games. The French president wanted to reassure about the security around the opening rite planned for the Seine, evoking “limited” reaction solutions. “at the Trocadero” or at the Stade de France, in the event of a terrorist threat.
The rite of the flame took place near the stadium where young athletes of antiquity competed in their first Games in the eighth century B. C. At that time, women were forbidden to participate, and so it remained until the abolition of the Ancient Games in 393 AD. J. -C.
But in Paris “it will be the first Olympic Games with the best gender parity,” Bach said.
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