The Olympic flame was handed over to the host of the Paris 2024 Games during a ceremony in Athens – Firstpost
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Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos handed over the torch to Paris Olympics chief organizer Tony Estanguet at the Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.
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Greece handed over the Olympic flame for the 2024 Games to organizer Paris on Friday during a ceremony at the Athens Marble Stadium where the competition was revived almost 130 years ago. Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos handed over the torch to Paris Olympics chief organizer Tony Estanguet at the Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.
Estanguet said in a speech that Paris’ goal was to organize “spectacular but also more responsible Games, which will contribute to a more inclusive society.”
Organizers want to ensure “that the biggest event in the world plays an accelerator role in answering the crucial questions of our time,” said Estanguet, a member of the French team for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games who won gold in canoe slalom.
A duo composed of French champion Gabriella Papadakis, gold medalist in ice dancing at the Beijing 2022 Games, and former swimmer Beatrice Hess, one of the most successful Paralympians in history, carried the flame during the last leg of the relay to the Panathenaic Stadium.
🔥 The transfer of power begins! The High Priestess passes the Olympic flame to Mr. Spyros Capralos, President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee. 🇫🇷#OlympicTorchRelay | #Paris2024 | @Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/5B8W1qcMjy
– The Olympic Games (@Olympics) April 26, 2024
🔥🇫🇷 Paris 2024 has the Olympic flame!
Mr. Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, receives the Olympic flame at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.
A historic moment!#OlympicTorchRelay | #Paris2024 | @Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/AXoKQPLcmV
– The Olympic Games (@Olympics) April 26, 2024
Nana Mouskouri, the 89-year-old Greek singer known throughout the world, performed the anthems of France and Greece during the ceremony.
After spending the night at the French embassy in Athens, the flame will begin its journey to France on Saturday aboard the 19th century three-masted barque Belem.
🔥The Olympic flame leaves the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens and will soon be in France.
⚓ On Saturday, he boarded the French ship Belem, bound for Marseille.#OlympicTorchRelay | #Paris2024 | @Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/AcLAdt8d4K
– The Olympic Games (@Olympics) April 26, 2024
On Sunday, the ship will leave the Corinth Canal – a 19th-century engineering feat built with contributions from French banks and engineers.
The Belem is expected to reach Marseille – a city founded by ancient Greek settlers around 600 BCE – on May 8.
More than 1,000 ships will accompany its approach to the port, local officials said.
French swimmer Florent Manaudou will be the first torchbearer in Marseille. Her sister Laure was the second torchbearer in ancient Olympia, where the flame was lit on April 16.
Ten thousand torchbearers will then carry the flame across 64 French territories.
It will pass through more than 450 cities and dozens of tourist attractions during its 12,000-kilometer (7,500-mile) journey through mainland France and the French overseas territories of the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and of the Pacific.
On July 26, it will be the centerpiece of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games.
A French historic monument inaugurated just weeks after the 1896 Athens Games, the Belem made commercial voyages to Brazil, Guyana and the Caribbean for almost two decades.
Hours before the handover ceremony, the flame passed from Marathon, the city where the classic 42-kilometer endurance race, a key Olympic event, takes place each year.
The torch recalls the ancient Olympic Games, when a sacred flame burned throughout the Games. The tradition was revived in 1936 for the Berlin Games.
During the 11-day relay on Greek soil, some 600 torchbearers carried the flame a distance of more than 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) through more than 50 cities.
