The Olympic flame has reached France around eleven weeks before the Olympic Games in Paris. Thousands of people celebrated the arrival in the port of Marseille on land and on boats.
After a twelve-day voyage from Greece across the Mediterranean, the Olympic flame has arrived in France. The flame reached the port of Marseille on board the three-master “Belem” and was accompanied by fireworks. Jets belched out smoke in the colors of the French flag.
In the harbor the flame was handed over to the first torchbearers, the swimmer Florent Manaudou and the Paralympic runner Nantenin Keïta. What caused a surprise was that the Marseille rapper Jul then lit the Olympic flame.
The fire was brought to France on the historic three-master “Belem”.
120,000 people welcomed the fire
According to the television station BFM, 120,000 people watched the spectacle on site in the port. French President Emmanuel Macron was also present. Around 8,500 security personnel accompanied the event. It is seen as the first big test for the organizers with a view to the Summer Olympics in the French capital.
From Marseille, the torch will travel across the country hosting this year’s Games. The torch relay stops include the memorial sites of the two world wars in Verdun and Normandy, the Palace of Versailles, the Lascaux cave and the castles in the Loire Valley. The French overseas territories are also visited before the fire reaches the capital.
French athlete Nantenin Keïta was the second torchbearer after swimmer Florent Manaudou.
The fire for the games was lit on April 16 at the ancient site of Olympia on the Peloponnese peninsula. They then traveled through Greece with a torch relay before boarding the ship.
The Summer Olympics start on July 26th with the opening ceremony on the Seine and last until August 11th, followed shortly afterwards by the Paralympics for athletes with physical disabilities in Paris.