MARSEILLE, France (AP) — French Olympic swimmer Florent Manaudou became France’s first Olympic flame bearer after the Olympic The flame arrived on Wednesday at the Old Port of Marseille aboard a majestic three-masted ship from Greece for the sunset welcome ceremony at the city’s Old Port.
The ship sailed into the old port of Marseille with the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, echoing across the quay and a French Air Force flyover with planes first drawing the five Olympic rings, then the red-blue-white colors of the national flag.
The ship docked on the pontoon which mirrors an athletics track and Manaudou carried the torch to mainland France as tens of thousands of people applauded and thousands more waved from balconies and windows overlooking the festivities .
“We can be proud,” declared President Emmanuel Macron, present at the torch reception ceremony.
“The flame is on French soil,” Macron said. “The games arrive in France and enter the lives of the French.”
The torch was lit in Greece last month before it was officially handed over to France. He left Athens aboard a ship named Belem, first used in 1896, and spent twelve days at sea.
The president of the Paris 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet, said the return of the Olympic Games to France was an opportunity for a “fantastic celebration”.
“As a former athlete, I know how important the start of a competition is. This is why we chose Marseille, because it is certainly one of the most sporting cities,” adds Estanguet, former Olympic canoe star and gold medalist at the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Games.
The safety of visitors and residents is a top priority for authorities in Marseille, France’s second-largest city with nearly a million residents. Around 8,000 police officers were deployed around the port.
Thousands of firefighters and bomb disposal teams have been positioned around the city, along with maritime police and anti-drone teams patrolling the city’s waters and airspace.
“This is a monumental day and we have worked hard to ensure that visitors and residents of Marseille can enjoy this historic moment,” said Yannick Ohanessian, deputy mayor of the city.
The torch relay will begin on Thursday in Marseille, before heading to Paris passing iconic locations across the country, from the famous Mont Saint-Michel to the D-Day beaches in Normandy and the Palace of Versailles.
A heavy police and military presence was seen in downtown Marseille on Tuesday, as a military helicopter flew over the Old Port, where a series of barriers were installed.
French Interior Ministry spokesperson Camille Chaize said officials were prepared to deal with security threats, including terrorism.
AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports that the French port city of Marseille is welcoming the arrival of the Olympic flame.
“We are implementing various measures, including the elite unit of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, which will be present from the start to the end of the torch relay,” she said.
The Olympic cauldron will be lit after the opening ceremony of the Games which will take place on the Seine on July 26.
The basin will be lit in a Parisian location kept top secret until the day itself. Options include iconic locations such as the Eiffel Tower and the Tuileries Gardens outside the Louvre Museum.
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Barbara Surk contributed from Nice, France. AP journalists Jeffrey Schaeffer, Oleg Cetinic, Nicolas Garriga and Daniel Cole contributed to this story.
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