Greek actress Mary Mina, playing the role of the High Priestess, lights the torch during the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics Games at the ancient temple of Hera on the Olympia archeological site in southern Greece, on April 16, 2024 – AFP
- Paris 2024 Olympic torch relay began in Greece.
- Backup flame was used due to cloudy weather.
- Flame will arrive in France on May 8th via ship ‘Belem’.
The torch for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was ignited in ancient Olympia in a customary ceremony on Tuesday, in anticipation of the event’s commencement on July 26.
Greek actress Mary Mina, who assumed the role of high priestess, lit the torch using a backup flame due to overcast skies, instead of the usual parabolic mirror. This marked the beginning of a relay in Greece and France.
The relay will culminate with the lighting of the Olympic flame in Paris during the opening ceremony.
Paris has secured the opportunity to host the summer Olympics for the third time, following 1900 and 1924.
“In these difficult times we are living through, with wars and conflicts on the rise, people are fed up with all the hate, the aggression and negative news they are facing day in and day out,” said Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in his speech.
“We are longing for something which brings us together, something that is unifying, something that gives us hope. The Olympic flame that we are lighting today is the symbol of this hope.”
The torch of the relay’s first runner, Stefanos Ntouskos, Greece’s Olympic rowing champion, was subsequently lit by Mina.
After a brief run, Ntouskos passed the flame to Laure Manaudou, France’s three-time Olympic medallist in swimming and the leader of Paris’ Olympic torch relay, representing the host city.
The flame will be officially transferred to the organisers of the Paris Games at Athens’ Panathenaic Stadium, the site of the first modern Games in 1896, on April 26, following an 11-day relay across Greece.
The flame will then set sail for France the next day aboard a three-masted ship, the ‘Belem’, and is expected to arrive in Marseille on May 8. Up to 150,000 people are anticipated to attend the ceremony at the Old Port in the southern city.
Marseille, established by the Greek settlers of Phocaea around 600 BC, will be the venue for the sailing competitions.
The French torch relay will proceed for 68 days and will conclude in Paris with the lighting of the Olympic flame on July 26.
