Joan of Arc’s house, Mont-Saint-Michel, Pelée mountain, Verdun memorial, Mont-Blanc valley, Millau viaduct… for three months, between May 8 and July 26, 2024, the Olympic flame will criss-cross a good part of the French territory, multiplying the stops in emblematic places. Sixty-five stage towns will punctuate this relay and more than four hundred towns will be crossed.
Lit on April 16 in Olympia, Greece, the Olympic flame will begin its journey by sea aboard the White.. After crossing the Mediterranean, the three-master will arrive in Marseille on May 8.
After the first relays in mainland France, the Olympic flame will embark, on June 7, on board the Maxi Banque Populaire to Guadeloupe and Martinique. Another torch will be presented, the time of the crossing, in Guyana, Reunion and French Polynesia. At the end of this “ocean relay”, the Olympic flame will return to Nice on 18 June.
The relay in Ile-de-France
Source: Paris 2024 – Infographic The world
The journey of this long procession – sixty-eight effective days – which “will open the celebration of the Games”, was officially unveiled on Friday June 23 by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop).
This presentation of a course, the outline of which had already been filtered, comes as Paris 2024 is in turmoil: as part of two investigations conducted by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office targeting contracts awarded for the Games, searches took place , Tuesday, at the headquarters of the Cojop – as well as that of Solideo, the company in charge of the construction of the Olympic sites.
“We want exemplary and popular Games, for this reason, we will remain vigilant until the end”assured, Thursday to the newspaper South West the president of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet.
In the immediate future, this legal news disturbs the communication of Paris 2024, which, with the presentation of the torch relay, nevertheless wants to place itself under the sign of“festive epic, but also very sporty”, to use the words of Delphine Moulin, director of the celebrations.
Stage cities to “reach as many people as possible”
This course is the result of two hundred days of ” fieldwork “according to the organizers, who put forward a “co-construction” carried out, since October 2021, with the departments that have volunteered to host this relay – and, above all, to co-finance it. “It was very important to be there to create a strong bond with them. It was a titanic job, but we are very happy because there is a commitment and a desire to participate in the relay », assures Grégory Murac, deputy director of the torch relay.
For the stopover towns, the choice consisted in opting “mostly for large population pools in order to reach as many people as possible”, develops Mr. Murac, who concedes “a few exceptions, for extraordinary sites for example, such as Mont-Saint-Michel”. As for the towns crossed, “we asked the territories which sites they wanted to retain, and we then looked at what could be done on our side”.
Without too much surprise, the layout ends up presenting France under its best profile. Whether promoting the country’s history and those who wrote it (Verdun, Joan of Arc, etc.), the natural heritage (Mont-Saint-Michel, the Mont-Blanc valley, l’île aux Moines, etc.), or places leading to highlight “know-how and inventiveness” French (the Puy du Fou, the Millau viaduct, etc.).
Paris 2024 also wanted to emphasize the vitality of sport in the territories: for this, relays will take place on the Simonne-Mathieu court at Roland-Garros, or even at Mont Ventoux.
Read also: Paris 2024: what we know about the procedures for selecting the bearers of the Olympic flame
One day, one department, two convoys
This journey of the Olympic flame, for which “discussions are underway with the broadcasters” television, will not be a long continuous parade. It will actually consist of a succession of “segments” of a few kilometers, which will follow one day, between 8:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., without links between them.
Newsletter
« Paris 2024 »
“Le Monde” deciphers the news and the challenges of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Register
The ritual will be immutable: one department visited per day with a main convoy that will cross three ” big ones “ towns before finishing in the stage town and, when transferring between these towns, a different convoy, says « agile »who will visit three areas of the territory to be highlighted (museum, historical heritage, sports sites, etc.).
The Olympic flame will not be « visible » only during the relays: either in the cities, or in the three places crossed by the convoy « agile ». To avoid two lanterns being lit at the same time, the main convoy will have to wait until the ceremony of the « petit » convoy is complete.
A hundred different torchbearers per day, mostly selected by Paris 2024 partners (Coca-Cola and Banque Populaire-Caisse d’Epargne), will ensure the passing of the torch: a relay will last four minutes, for a distance of 200 meters . In addition, every evening, at each stage, celebrations will take place, organized by the sponsors of the flame.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the torch relay will be placed under close surveillance
“Going everywhere would have been too difficult”
If the Cojop highlights the fact that “the flame will light up all the territories”, it is clear that many French departments will miss the call: the relay will pass in sixty-four departments, including five overseas territories. It will avoid all those who have given up hosting the flame because of the price demanded by Paris 2024: they were asked to bring 180,000 euros (all taxes included) to host the relay. The idea, put forward by certain departmental councils, of having a variable rate, depending on the number of inhabitants for example, had been rejected. This is how the inhabitants of Orne, Côtes-d’Armor, Vosges or Mayotte, among others, will not see the slightest spark of the Olympic flame.
“We cannot choose a mascot inspired by the Phrygian cap, symbol of equality and fraternity, and, for financial reasons, not go everywhere”lamented, a few months ago, David Lazarus (various left), mayor of Chambly (Oise) and co-president of the sport and Olympic and Paralympic Games commission of the Association of Mayors of France. “The commitment was to open up to anyone who wanted it. Do not build the course in our corner. We would have been very annoyed if all the territories had been candidates, argues Michaël Aloïso, Deputy CEO of Paris 2024. Going everywhere would have been too difficult. »
In some of the departments, however, agglomerations have taken over: while Hérault and Aveyron had refused to apply, Montpellier, for example, joined forces with Sète and Millau.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Montpellier, Sète and Millau will share the Olympic flame for a day
If the last torch relay will take place between Seine-Saint-Denis and Paris, leading to the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony on the Seine, the Cojop refuses, at this stage, to say which place it will pass through – the Eiffel Tower has been mentioned – and who will be the last torchbearer. “It will be the surprise of July 26 and the last segment”confines himself to declaring Mr. Aloïsio.
Paralympic torch route
The route of the Paralympic flame will only be revealed at the start of the school year (between the end of August and the beginning of October) by the Games Organizing Committee. The concept of this relay will be different from that which will prevail for the Olympic flame. “It will be shorter but very intense”, summarizes Delphine Moulin, the director of celebrations within Paris 2024: shorter in duration, because this relay will take place between the end of the Olympic Games (August 11) and the start of the Paralympic Games (August 28); intense, because the objective will be, despite everything, to “cover the whole territory” national, with the thousand bearers who will take turns. With this in mind, the organizers have favored « un concept multiflammes » – there may be several in different places at the same time.
Our selection of articles on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Find all our content on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games:
The CIO affix a “high level of confidence” about the preparation for the Olympic Games
OJ: the Court of Auditors considers that the Paris 2024 budget remains marked by “great uncertainties”
The price of seats
With 6.8 million tickets sold, Tony Estanguet defends “Games open to the greatest number”
Environmental issues
The difficult bet of “green” Olympic Games
The question of the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes
More than three-quarters of Russian medalists at the Tokyo Games fall outside the IOC’s neutrality model
“Several hundred thousand spectators” free access and 35,000 law enforcement personnel for the opening ceremony
The huge transport challenge
The societal issues highlighted by the Games
Accessibility for people with disabilities is slow to be implemented
Gender parity at the Games cannot make us forget the slow feminization of sports practice
In Pessac, sports clubs want to offer people with disabilities “a practice like for any member”
jostled, the ” model “ French sports association is looking for a new lease of life
Seine-Saint-Denis and the Games
The 2024 Olympics in Paris, a distant horizon in working-class neighborhoods
In Bobigny, nearby construction sites, but distant jobs for young people in integration
On Airbnb, the Olympic Games make Parisian owners fantasize
The Paris 2024 Olympics accelerate the transformation of North-East Paris
The Games are not just Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis
Thanks to the Paris 2024 Olympics, Grigny wants to create “a local Olympic ecosystem”
Olympic Games 2024: the Meuse wants to take advantage of the Games to develop its attractiveness through sport
See more See less