About 150,000 people are expected to flock to Marseille’s Old Port on May 8 to welcome the Olympic flame, which will arrive aboard the three-masted Belem after a 12-day journey from Greece, organizers said.
The flame was lit Tuesday in the Greek city of Olympia and will traverse Greece for 11 days before arriving at the port of Piraeus, south of Athens, where it will board the Belem ship on April 26 bound for Marseille.
“The flame will enter France through the Greek city of Massalia. With this arrival in Belem, there will be exceptional and memorable images,” said Samia Ghali, deputy mayor of Marseille, at a press conference, recalling the bases of Marseille through the Greeks in the year 600 B. C.
Before entering the Old Port, the Belem will parade through the port of Marseille and will be accompanied by 1,024 boats. Animations are planned on land and at sea throughout the day.
“Everything here will be free,” insisted the mayor of France’s second city, Benoît Payan, ahead of the “People’s Olympics. “
At 7 p. m. , Belem will enter the Old Port, greeted with fireworks, the music of the Marseille Opera orchestra and the “tifos” prepared by the amateur teams of the city’s football club, Olympique de Marseille (OM).
Once the three-masted boat is moored, the first torchbearer to set foot on French soil – whose identity is a closely guarded secret – will descend from the Belem and run a few dozen meters on a floating athletics track in front of the Olympic cauldron at around 7:45 p. m. , in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron.
“We have calibrated things to accommodate another 150,000 people in a domain that includes the Old Port, the end of the Canebière – the emblematic artery of the center of Marseille -, the Pharo gardens (overlooking the Old Port) or the Place des Huiles,” also in the center, Ghali explained.
The evening will end with a concert by Marseille rappers Soprano and Alonzo.
“We’re making sure we’re as safe as possible, there’s no plan B,” Payan said, adding that the only parameter it would have “a fairly modest influence” over would be the weather.
Both the Old Port and the Corniche will be 100 percent pedestrian-friendly, “there will be registrations at all entrances,” Ghali said. “In terms of safety, we have done everything possible, but unfortunately no one will be able to say it will be 100 percent certain,” he added.
On May 9, the Olympic flos angelesme will begin its adventure in France, in Marseille, with visits to the Basilica of Notre-Dame degli Angeli and the Stade Vélodrome.
It will then travel across the country, including the West Indies and French Polynesia, arriving in Paris on the day of the opening ceremony, July 26.