Current:Home > ScamsOlympic flame arrives in Marseille, France, 79 days before the Paris 2024 Games -MoneyMatrix
Olympic flame arrives in Marseille, France, 79 days before the Paris 2024 Games
View
Date:2025-04-13 23:25:56
MARSEILLE, France - The Olympic flame reached Marseille, just outside the Old Port, amid tight security on Wednesday, 79 days before the Paris 2024 Games Opening Ceremony.
More than 150,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony after a six-hour parade of the three-masted Belem, which left Greece on April 27 with the flame after it was lit in Ancient Olympia 11 days earlier.
The ship was awaited by 1,024 boats.
Around 6,000 law enforcement officers are securing the area before Florent Manaudou, France's 2012 Olympic men's 50 metres freestyle swimming champion, brings the flame to land shortly after 1730 GMT in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron.
Police canine units and elite forces snipers have also been deployed.
"It's an unprecedented level of security," Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said. "Life goes on in Marseille but in great security conditions.
"We conceived this event as a ceremony, the fifth of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics (on top of the opening and closing ceremonies," said Paris 2024 executive director Thierry Reboul who is in charge of ceremonies.
"Marseille is the ideal spot to create memories."
"It was the obvious choice," Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 organising committee, said of Marseille, which was founded around 600 BC by Greek settlers from Phocea.
That will be followed by a free rap concert on a floating stage in front of 45,000 spectators.
"It’s a huge honour and I think it’s an exceptional promotion for the city," retiree and boat owner Henri Gerente, told Reuters.
"It will be watched by hundreds of millions of people, so I am very proud and I hope that everyone will participate in this momentum. It can only be a good thing for the economy and for everything else, for the image of the city. So I'm proud of it."
On Wednesday morning, the tranquility of the gentle breeze was matched only by the glittering of the Mediterranean sea in the background of the Old Port, making for an ideal day in France's oldest city.
The relay will start on Thursday with former Olympique de Marseille soccer players Jean-Pierre Papin, Didier Drogba and Basile Boli, as well as three-star chef Alexandre Mazzia among the torch bearers.
More than 10,000 people will take part in the torch relay before the flame reaches Paris and is installed near the Louvre, in the Jardin des Tuileries.
The Olympic Opening Ceremony will take place on the River Seine on July 26.
veryGood! (4)
Related
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Boy, 7, killed by toddler driving golf cart in Florida, police say
- Biden reassures bank customers and says the failed firms' leaders are fired
- There were 100 recalls of children's products last year — the most since 2013
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Planet Money Records Vol. 3: Making a hit
- 'I'M BACK!' Trump posts on Facebook, YouTube for first time in two years
- A lawsuit picks a bone with Buffalo Wild Wings: Are 'boneless wings' really wings?
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Texas Politicians Aim to Penalize Wind and Solar in Response to Outages. Are Renewables Now Strong Enough to Defend Themselves?
Ranking
- Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
- Boy reels in invasive piranha-like fish from Oklahoma pond
- Cardi B Calls Out Offset's Stupid Cheating Allegations
- Russia says Moscow and Crimea hit by Ukrainian drones while Russian forces bombard Ukraine’s south
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Diesel Emissions in Major US Cities Disproportionately Harm Communities of Color, New Studies Confirm
- Judge to decide in April whether to delay prison for Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes
- I Tried to Buy a Climate-Friendly Refrigerator. What I Got Was a Carbon Bomb.
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
Is it Time for the World Court to Weigh in on Climate Change?
World Leaders Failed to Bend the Emissions Curve for 30 Years. Some Climate Experts Say Bottom-Up Change May Work Better
The Best Waterproof Foundation to Combat Sweat and Humidity This Summer
Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
Treat Williams’ Wife Honors Late Everwood Actor in Anniversary Message After His Death
SAG actors are striking but there are still projects they can work on. Here are the rules of the strike.
Man gets 12 years in prison for a shooting at a Texas school that injured 3 when he was a student