The Paris Olympic Games are approaching. While the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron will go to the Grand Palais on Wednesday, to celebrate the 100th day of the deadline, another symbolic step will take place the day before, this Tuesday: the lighting of the Olympic flame.
Scheduled in Olympia as tradition dictates, the event is part of a culture specific to the Olympic Games. In ancient Greece, fire was a sacred element and perpetual fires were kept in front of the main temples. During the ancient Olympic Games, a flame burned continuously on the altar of the sanctuary of the goddess Hestia. Other fires were lit at the temples of Zeus and Hera.
The torch will set foot on French soil in Marseille on May 8 after a sea voyage aboard the three-masted Belem. Before that, she will have spent a total of 11 days in Greece, with a final visit to Athens on April 26.
In France, the flame will cross 64 territories (departments, cities, overseas) before reaching the capital on July 26, the date of the opening ceremony. The basin will be installed in the Tuileries gardens, between the Louvre museum and Place de la Concorde, during the entire fortnight of the Games.
The Olympic flame lighting ceremony will be followed at 10:30 a.m., this Tuesday April 15, 2024, on Eurosport 1.
