By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 21 minutes ago, Updated now
The flame will arrive in Marseille on May 8. Louisa Gouliamaki / REUTERS
150,000 people are expected on May 8 at the Old Port in Marseille to welcome the Olympic flame, which will arrive aboard the three-masted Belem, the organizers announced.
Some 150,000 people are expected on May 8 at the Old Port in Marseille to welcome the Olympic flame, which will arrive aboard the three-masted Belem after a 12-day crossing from Greece, the organizers announced. The Olympic flame will be lit this Tuesday in the Greek city of Olympia then will travel across Greece for 11 days before reaching the port of Piraeus, south of Athens, where it will board the ship Belem on April 26 for its destination from Marseille.
“The flame will enter France through the Greek city, Massalia. With this arrival on Belem, there will be exceptional and memorable images”declared Samia Ghali, deputy mayor of Marseille, during a press conference presenting the day of May 8, recalling the founding of Marseille by the Greeks in 600 BC.
“We calibrated things to accommodate 150,000 people”
Before entering the Old Port, the Belem will parade throughout the harbor of Marseille, from Goudes in the South to Estaque in the North. It will be accompanied by 1,024 boats and entertainment is planned on land and at sea all day. At 7 p.m., the Belem will enter the Old Port, greeted by fireworks, by the music of the Marseille Opera orchestra and by “typhus” prepared by groups of supporters of the city’s football club, Olympique de Marseille (OM).
Once the three-masted ship is moored, the first torchbearer to set foot on French soil will disembark from the Belem and run a few dozen meters on a floating athletics track before lighting the Olympic cauldron around 7:45 p.m., in presence in particular of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron. “We have calibrated things to accommodate 150,000 people in an area including the Old Port, the end of the Canebière – emblematic artery of the center of Marseille –, the Pharo gardens (dominating the Old Port) or the Place aux Huiles”, also in the center, explained Ms. Ghali. The evening will end with a concert by Marseille rappers Soprano and Alonzo.
On May 9, the Olympic flame will begin its journey in France in Marseille, with visits to the Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica or the Stade Vélodrome. It will then cross the entire country, also passing through the Antilles and French Polynesia, to arrive in Paris on the day of the opening ceremony, July 26.
