The radio station, FranceInter, reminded me this morning that the Olympic torch arrives in Marseille May 8 on a three-masted ship. To welcome the Olympic torch to its shores, more than 150,000 spectators are expected, about 6,000 security forces, 1,000 ships are registered to participate in the nautical parade, 80 dogs have inspected 4,000 boats moored at the Vieux-Port. (Information from Le Parisien Samedi 4 mai 2024 N° 24786)
Traversing French territory (hexagon, metropole and overseas), it reaches Paris for Bastille Day, July 14. Mattheu Lahnneur’s torch design will weave its way through Paris streets July 14 and 15. One extraordinary journey will be on Line 6 crossing the Seine to the Bir-Hakeim stop. At the close of each day’s relay, an evening of festivities will be organised. Currently, no details are available. During the nights of July 14 to 15, the flame will remain at City
Hall/Hôtel de Ville. On the evening of July 15, the flame departs to travel the rest of France, returning to Paris on July 26 for the opening ceremony (Olympics 2024 are July 26-August 11. For updates follow three Instagram accounts for the Ville de Paris: Que Faire a Paris, paris_maville and paris2024. For all festivities, visit the City of Paris webpage (translate the pages with your browser-e.g., Google).
Discover the fantastic route on the City of Paris’s/Ville de Paris
The route covers all 20 arrodissements/districts. Get a virtual glimpse of the flame’s route on the Ville de Paris’ YouTube video. The route of the paralympics is slightly different as are the Paralympics dates: August 28-September 8.
Two Olympians made the first Olympic Torch handover on April 16 from Greece to France. Stefanos Ntouskos, rowing gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics handed over the flame to Laure Manaudou swimming gold medalist at the Athens Olympics.
For two months, before reaching Paris, the torch will travel throughout France. By the time it arrives for the opening of the games, various symbolic torches will have passed between 10,000 torch bearers. The torch bearers for Paris come from all walks of life: artists, sports figures, firemen/women, non-profits in Paris, etc.
Exhibits in Paris related to the Olympics
- Louvre : Olympism Modern Invention, Ancient Legacy until September 16, 2024
- Palais Galliera: is a Collections Exhibition on the Garden floor until January 5, 2025. Galliera has selected 300 items from its collections designed for sports and physical activities such as horseriding, tennis, golf and bicycling, which are compared with everyday clothing styles. One section is entirely devoted to sea bathing and swimming, symbolising the democratisation of sport that came with the end of the 19th century.
- Olympic Museum: 101 quai Jacques Chirac Paris 15th arrondissement (access via Bir-Hakeim metro station)
- Centre Pompidou: When All is at Stake until August 10, 2024
For Trivia Fans
Key figures (Found on the Ville de Paris )
- 64 committed territories
- 68 days of effective relay in France
- 65 cities every day
- More than 400 cities crossed
- 5 overseas departments/countries crossed: Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, French Polynesia, Reunion Island
- 11,000 bearers of the Olympic Game
- 1 individual relay = 200 m = 4 minutes
- 3,000 carriers will participate on collective relays
- 1 collective relay = 24 participants (including a captain who carries the Game) = 8 minutes on average 35 federations involved in collective relays
