The 3,100-mile Olympic torch relay is underway. Here’s what to know about the symbolic tradition.

The Olympic flame was lit in Olympia, Greece, kicking off the Paris 2024 Olympic Torch Relay. Before each Summer Olympics, the torch is lit at the ancient site where the games were founded , thus connecting the event to its roots.

The flame is carried to the host city by runners and other means of transportation. This year, the torch will be carried to Athens and then sailed on a three-masted ship across the Mediterranean Sea to Marseille, France. He will travel across France and its islands with athletes until landing in Paris on July 26 for the opening ceremony of the games.

Boats will carry the torch to islands like Martinique and French Polynesia. A full list of stops can be found on the Olympics website and the relay will be broadcast live. It will take 68 days to complete the 3,100-mile relay.

A selection process to choose the 10,000 athletes who will carry the flame began in June 2023.

The torch never goes out during the relay. A new torch is designed for each Olympic Games and is specially designed to withstand the elements. The flame is usually powered by gas and is capable of burning longer than the relay will allow. It rests in a special cauldron overnight.

A special ceremony took place in Olympia on Tuesday, with an actress lighting the flame at the temple of the Greek goddess Hera.

The ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia from 776 BC to 393 AD and the first modern Olympic Games began in Athens in 1896.

But the symbolic torch was only used at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and the inaugural relay took place in 1936, before the Berlin Olympics.

Since then, the relay has taken place at each Summer Olympic Games and even appears in the Olympic regulations which stipulate: “The Olympic flame is the flame which is lit in Olympia under the authority of the IOC”.

Olympic swimmer Florent Manaudou was chosen as the leader for one of the relays.

“It’s incredible to be captain. When you’re a child and you discover the Games, you see the sporting part but also the Olympic flame, which is highly symbolic,” said Manaudou. “I’m very excited to showcase all the incredible landscapes we have in France.”