LIVE – JO de Paris 2024

Lit in Greece in mid-April, the Olympic flame sailed towards France aboard the Belem, whose entry into the old port of Marseille is expected this Wednesday, May 8 in the evening, at the end of a day of festivities in the city Phocaean.

In summary :

The Olympic flame for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games arrives on French soil 79 days before the opening ceremony. The organizing committee and the government are banking on this event to revive Olympic enthusiasm which is slow to materialize in France. Maritime parade, shows, happenings, concerts: the day must be marked by a series of festivities near the Old Port of Marseille, completely closed for the occasion. Emmanuel Macron will attend the ceremony alongside the president of the organizing committee, Tony Estanguet. For 69 days, the Olympic torch relay will travel from torch to torch in 65 territories, including six overseas territories, and cross more than 400 towns and villages.

Giant concert this evening. Marseille rappers Soprano and Alonzo will give a free concert and fifteen other artists are scheduled to perform in five other cities where the Olympic or Paralympic torch relays will pass. Some 45,000 people will be able to attend the launch of the tour free of charge in the Marseille city, the performance of which will take place on a floating stage in the Old Port, announced Coca-Cola, sponsor of the torch relay. Among the other artists on the program, the rapper Lujipeka and the rapper Chilla are expected, like the Olympic flame, on June 1 in Rennes, in the Le Liberté room.

10:00 a.m

Maximum security. A device comprising 6,000 members of the police must be deployed this Wednesday to secure the arrival of the Olympic flame in Marseille. Taking into account the agents of the City of Marseille mobilized (firefighters, security personnel, municipal police officers, etc.), this system will even exceed that deployed in the second largest city in France in September 2023 for the visit of Pope Francis, who had was then described as “out of the norm” and “exceptional”. The Old Port of Marseille was completely closed (we say “watertight” in police language) for the arrival of the flame, aboard the three-masted Belem, around 7:45 p.m.