Just a few weeks ago, he may have had moments of doubt. Wasn’t making the arrival of the Olympic flame a unique and spectacular event for the first time, putting Marseille before the eyes of the world, in fact a “huge hassle”? For days, he has been helplessly machine-gunning the mountains of trash that are popping up in the city with his smartphone. Clichés die hard and the Kafkaesque distribution of skills between the City and the Metropolis shows no respite. However, Benoît Payan displays Olympic form and plays the political truce. Ready to continue the interviews, enjoy the historic moment, offer another image of the city, festive and fraternal, in world vision. To put “Marseille back at the center of the game”.
This Wednesday, May 8, Marseille welcomes the Olympic flame. Is the city ready?
Marseille prepared for months and today, yes, it is ready. It was a dream and a challenge that required a lot of work. It’s a source of great pride: it puts Marseille at the center of the world. But it will also be a festive and popular moment where the people of Marseillais – and others – will be able to get together with their families with entertainment all day long. It was neither expected nor natural.
Why wasn’t it natural?
Marseille was not to welcome the flame. This arrival was not the choice of the organizers. We went looking for it and inventing it. Until now, flame welcoming ceremonies did not exist. Considering what it costs – three million euros, including one million borne by the City – what it will bring in is very important: a billion viewers, hundreds of thousands of people present, spin-offs afterwards… We wanted to reconnect with the Olympic story: a sporting event with values of surpassing oneself, fraternity, joy, moving away from the classic business model. This ceremony is a link between our past, our present and what the city wants to become.