Olympic flame will be lit this Tuesday at the ancient Greek site, before a vast journey which will take it from the Acropolis to Paris. Some 600 hand-picked guests will attend this moment in history, including the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach.
French President Emmanuel Macron launched the countdown to the Olympics on Monday by reassuring security around the opening ceremony on the Seine, while setting out fallback solutions in the event of a terrorist threat. French swimmer Laure Manaudou, who won her first Olympic title in the 400m freestyle at the Athens Games in 2004, will succeed her and will be the first French Olympic relay runner. The flame will then be brought by the first torchbearer, Stefanos Ntkostos, to Paris, which will host the Games from July 26 to August 11. The ceremony takes place near the stadium where the young athletes of Antiquity played their first Games in the 8th century BC. At the time, women were prohibited from participating and remained so until the abolition of the Ancient Games in 393 AD.