The countdown begins. In 101 days the
2024 Olympic Games
will begin . As tradition dictates, the Olympic flame will be lit this Tuesday at the ancient site of Olympia, in Greece, before a vast journey that will take it from the Acropolis to Paris.
After two editions spoiled by restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, for the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics, the traditional ceremony in the cradle of the Olympism will regain all its colors with an audience of officials expected. In the sanctuary of Olympia, in front of the 2,600-year-old ruins of the temple of Hera, the “high priestess”, dressed in a costume inspired by Antiquity, must light the flame in the middle of the day in front of some 600 guests, including the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach.
LIVE - Paris 2024 Olympic Games: follow the lighting of the flame in Olympia
Nikos Aliagas
was chosen to host this ceremony. For several days, the Franco-Greek host, who carried the flame in 2004, has been in full rehearsals. This ritual in such a place is done
“with a lot of humility”
, he explained to AFP.
“Symbols are important in Greece. We are (...) in the universal because we carry something that does not belong to us, which is a heritage
,” he added, affirming that he wanted to be
“an intermediary”
between Greece and France.
“My role will be very formal: I will announce the arrival of the president, the lighting of the flame, the speech of Tony Estanguet (the president of Paris 2024) and that of the HOC, the national anthems... I will do it in Greek first, then in French and English. It’s quite short but it’s very powerful
,” he explained to our colleagues from
L’Équipe
. A mission that he accepted
“to be useful”
but also
“to honor both the roots of my parents and the country where I was born”
.
The flame ignition system involves the use of the sun and a parabolic cylindrical mirror, a process already known to the ancient Greeks: the rays of the sun which are reflected in the container release intense heat making it possible to obtain A flame. The “high priestess”, the Greek actress Mary Mina, will then be able to brandish the torch which will then be taken by the first torchbearer, Stefanos Ntouskos, Olympic rowing champion at the Tokyo Olympics. French swimmer Laure Manaudou, who won her first Olympic title, in the 400m freestyle, at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, will succeed her and will thus be the first French relay runner, the Greek Olympic committee announced on Monday.
The flame will then begin a journey of 5,000 km across Greece for 11 days, from the island of Corfu, in the Ionian Sea, to that of Santorini in the Cyclades, with its famous postcard setting, via Kastellorizo, in southeast of the country. She will also climb the Acropolis rock to spend a night near the Parthenon. Then the flame will be transmitted to the French organizers on April 26 in the Panathenaic stadium in Athens, the venue in which the first Olympic Games of the modern era were played in 1896. In Piraeus, the large port south of Athens, the Flamme will then board the three-masted Belem to disembark on May 8 in Marseille, in the south-east of France. The symbol of the Olympic Games will then cross all of France, passing through the Antilles and French Polynesia, to arrive in Paris on the day of the opening ceremony, July 26.