The torch to be lit at the Paris Olympics has been officially handed over to French organizers.
ATHENS, GREECE – The Paris Olympic torch was officially handed over to French organizers on Friday in the all-marble stadium where the first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896.
Greek water polo player Ioannis Fountoulis, the last in a long line of torchbearers, lit the cauldron at Panathenaic Stadium. From there, it was delivered to Tony Estanguet, director of the Paris 2024 Games.
A moment of tension ensued as assistants struggled to light the lantern that would carry the torch to France.
“I'm thinking of staying in Greece,” Estinget joked.
The torch, safely housed in a lantern, will depart on Saturday for France across the Mediterranean Sea on a 19th-century sailing ship, arriving in the southern port city of Marseille 12 days later.
The torch was lit on April 16 in Olympia, southern Greece, where the ancient games were held for more than 1,000 years, from around 776 BC to 393 AD.
From the ancient stadium in Olympia, a relay of torchbearers carried the torch along a 5,000-kilometre (3,100-mile) route through Greece. This route included his overnight stops at several islands and the ancient Acropolis.
The Olympic torch will be kept overnight at the French embassy before leaving Athens' port of Piraeus on Saturday aboard the French three-masted sailing ship Belém, built in the year the first modern Games were held in Athens.
Belen is scheduled to arrive in Marseille on May 8, ahead of a relay route through France that will lead to the opening ceremony in Paris.
The tournament will be held from July 26th to August 11th.
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AP Olympics https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
