Who will be the eleven thousand torchbearers, including one thousand for the Paralympic Games, who will carry the flame? Champions, like the four captains appointed by Paris 2024 (see below), but also “those who are committed to sport on a daily basis”, launched Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024, Friday from the large amphitheater from the Sorbonne. More concretely, the organizing committee has targeted three main profiles: amateur athletes and club volunteers, representatives of the territories from different professions and people involved in social and environmental associations.
The committee will select 30% of the torchbearers, the two sponsors BPCE and Coca-Cola also 30% as well as the other partners, and finally the local authorities 10%. The four million members of Club Paris 2024 will be able to suggest the name of a loved one to carry the flame. The bearers must be at least 15 years old, will be gender parity, able-bodied and disabled, and will not necessarily come from the departments that will host the flame.
“We are very happy, the enthusiasm is still as strong
Delphine Moulin, director of the Paris 2024 celebrations
The recruitment process began on June 1 on the platforms put online by Paris 2024 and the BPCE group, the committee’s leading partner. “We see a very great enthusiasm, whether at the level of Banque Populaire, Caisse d’Épargne but also of the Club Paris 2024, we exceed 10,000, 20,000 candidates…”, explains Delphine Moulin, director of celebrations of Paris 2024. “We are very happy because for three weeks the enthusiasm is still as strong. Good after there will be the selections ”, she continues to mean that the failed will be numerous and inevitably disappointed and frustrated.
With the help of the French Olympic and Paralympic Committees, Paris 2024 has worked with the 34 Olympic and Paralympic Federations which will each be able to select two teams, plus the Tahitian Surfing Federation, for a total of 69 teams. Because the particularity of the Paris 2024 torch relay is that 3,000 bearers, out of the 10,000, will run as a team, each being made up of 24 torchbearers with a captain. It is for example licensees of the French Cycling Federation who will ride with the flame when it stops at Mont Ventoux.
Last solution to try to carry the flame, participate in the many operations organized by the partners of Paris 2024. The BPCE group, which will select by lot more than 900 carriers of the Olympic flame among the general public but also its customers and employees , has already opened its “become bearer of the flame” tab on the Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne websites.
The fifteen Caisses d’Epargne will also select fifteen young people, as part of an integration program, to escort the flame to Belem. As for the Coca-Cola brand, partner of the IOC and Paris 2024 for the torch relay, it will open its recruitment campaign on July 17. Of the thousand torchbearers that the drink will be able to choose, half will come from the general public. Candidates will be able to register via a dedicated application with a QR code to scan present on 300 million Coca-Cola, Coke without sugar and Fuze Tea products, or by participating in the summer tour which will stop in 11 cities. of France. Coca-Cola will also choose 50 young people from underprivileged neighborhoods, with the association Sport dans la ville, to carry the flame.