200 participants in an 8 km race in Mauritius; a 10 km endurance event in the Karura Forest, Nairobi, Kenya; fundraising in Uganda; a 5km race in Botswana; a cross country with 800 students in the park of the French Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon; a team race in Libya; a boxing match in Ghana; a kayaking challenge on Lake Paranoá in Brazil… Wednesday, April 6, on the occasion of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, Paris 2024 is organizing a 24-hour sports relay around the world. This one will cross all the continents, respecting the order of time zones, and will mobilize the general public via embassies and territories labeled “Terre de Jeux 2024”.
“Sport invites us to cooperate, to share, to surpass ourselves and to become better, together. Each embassy, each territory involved in the relay around the world will contribute to creating a moment of conviviality, fraternity and unity around sport”, explains Tony Estanguet, President of the Organizing Committee for the 2024 Games (Cojo), who insists on the will “to carry the ambition of commitment of Paris 2024 all over the world. »
The project was built by the international relations department, headed by Sophie Lorant, who has been involved in the Games file since the bid phase, and the commitment department, managed by Romain Lachens. If the Olympic Games will take place mainly in Paris and in Île-de-France, the Cojo wishes to embark the whole territory but also the French embassies abroad, many of which have been labeled Terre de jeux. With the idea of promoting the social role of sport through various legacy programs, in France and internationally.
On Wednesday, the 24-hour sports relay will take place in 44 overseas countries and territories. It will start in Fiji, in the Pacific, then cross Oceania, Asia, Europe, Africa and America, before returning and ending in the Pacific, in French Polynesia, with a race to ‘at Teahupoo, the site that will host the surfing events. In each country, the sporting activity will start at 9 am local time and will last one hour. More than 8,000 participants, including athletes such as Neisi Dajomes, Ecuadorian weightlifter and gold medalist at the Tokyo Games, and Maria Mutola, Mozambican Olympic champion in the 800m at the Sydney Games in 2000.
