The place was known, but not the date. The mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, announced on Sunday April 30 that the Olympic flame for the Paris 2024 Games would land in France in his city on May 8, 2024.
“See you on May 8, 2024 for the arrival of the Olympic flame in Marseille”, revealed Benoît Payan on Twitter. On this occasion, “a great popular festival will be organized on the Old Port to celebrate together the greatest sporting competition in the world and the millennial history of the founding of our city! »added the mayor of the second city of France.
Under his message posted on the social network is a photo of the huge tifo deployed in a stand at the Stade-Vélodrome before the start of the Ligue 1 match between Olympique de Marseille and Auxerre (2-1), tifo representing the Olympic flame and its rings in the middle of the white and sky blue colors of Marseille and framed on the sides by the blood and gold of Provence.
See you on May 8, 2024 for the arrival of the Olympic flame in Marseille 🔥 A big popular party will be organized… https://t.co/j268OK0kxl
As announced during a press conference at the Marseille town hall on February 3, the flame will land from the Bethlehem, one of the oldest three-master in Europe still sailing, after a ten-day crossing from Greece, where, as in each edition of the Games, she will have been lit during a ceremony in Olympia.
The Phocaean city has a strong link with Greece, the Massalia colony having been founded by Greeks around 600 BC. “Marseille was founded by Greeks who came from Phocaea 2,600 years ago: by asking to welcome the flame to our shores, we wanted to reconnect with this great history of sharing, fraternity, diversity and solidarity”greeted Benoît Payan in February.
The complete journey of the flame to Paris, after its arrival in Marseille, should be announced at the end of May, just over a year from the Games, said Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris Olympics organizing committee.
The only certainty for the moment: after its arrival in Marseille, the flame will cross around sixty “territories” before arriving in Paris on July 14, ten days before the start of the Games. During the Games (from July 26 to August 11, 2024), Marseille will host the sailing events as well as ten matches of the women’s and men’s football tournaments, at the Stade-Vélodrome.
Our selection of articles on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games