Olympic Torch is lit in ceremony in Greece – 04/16/2024 – Sport

The torch for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was lit in ancient Olympia in a traditional ceremony this Tuesday (16), marking the final stretch of seven years of preparations for the start of the Games on July 26.

Greek actress Mary Mina, playing the role of a priestess, lit the torch using a spare flame instead of a parabolic mirror due to cloudy skies, for the start of a relay in Greece and France.

It will culminate with the lighting of the Olympic flame in the French capital at the opening ceremony. Paris will host the Summer Olympics for the third time after 1900 and 1924.

“In these difficult times we are living in, with wars and conflicts on the rise, people are tired of all the hate, aggression and negative news they face day after day,” said International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach , in his speech.

“We are longing for something that unites us, something that is unifying, something that gives us hope. The Olympic flame that we are lighting today is the symbol of that hope.”

The flame will be officially handed over to Paris Games organizers at Athens’ Panathenaic Stadium, site of the first modern Games in 1896, on April 26 after an 11-day relay across Greece.

It will then depart the following day for France aboard a three-masted ship, the ‘Belem’, where it will arrive on May 8 in Marseille, with up to 150,000 people expected to attend the ceremony in the southern city’s Old Port .

Marseille, founded by Greek colonists from Phocaea around 600 BC, will host the sailing competitions.

The French torch relay will last 68 days and end in Paris with the lighting of the Olympic flame on July 26.