Olympic flame has arrived in Marseille after 12 days of travel from Greece – Sports

The Olympic flame arrived in Marseille this Wednesday to begin the journey towards Paris, for the 2024 Olympic Games, after 12 days of travel from Greece, aboard the three-masted ship Belem.

Thousands of people waited in the port of Marseille, the city that will host the Paris2024 sailing events, for the Olympic flame, which will now begin its tour of French territory, with 79 days left until the start of the Olympic Games.

Shortly after 6:20 pm, the ship docked in the old port of Marseille, the second largest city in France, where the first Paris2024 Olympic cauldron was lit at 6:34 pm.

The mythical Belem arrived off the coast of Marseille, in the Mediterranean Sea, at around 7:00 am, but only docked hours later, to fulfill the planned program, being accompanied by hundreds of boats.

Former swimmer Florent Manaudou, Olympic champion in the 50 meter freestyle in London 2012, carried the flame on the boat and was the first bearer of it on French soil, after his sister Laure was the first French woman to carry the torch, back in Greece. , after the ceremony in which the flame was lit.

The second person to carry the torch was the French Paralympic athletics champion Nantenin Keita, who passed it on to the French rapper Jul, a name that had been kept secret from the gods and who had the honor of lighting the pyre.

Along the way of the flame in Marseille, there will be, as torchbearers, several well-known names in French sport such as former basketball player Tony Parker, Pascale Trinquet-Hachin, the first French individual Olympic fencing champion, or former footballers Jean-Pierre Papin, Basile Boli, Didier Drogba, who shone at the local club, and Louise Necib, born in the city.

Culture and arts personalities will also carry the torch in the first kilometers of the route in France, with the flame also visiting overseas territories, such as French Polynesia, where the surfing events will take place.

The Paris2024 Olympic Games will be held from July 26th to August 11th.