Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Belem and the Olympic flame arrive on the coast of Marseille

79 days before the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, she is finally here. The flames, which are currently on board the Belen, were spotted this Wednesday, May 8, in the morning off the coast of Marseille, noted an AFP journalist on board the customs vessel. The three-masted ship should arrive in the harbor of the Phocian city around 11 a.m. and spend the day there on the occasion of a major naval parade. For this purpose, 1024 boats are registered to escort Belem in the northern and then southern harbors of the Phocian city until 17:00.

Shortly after 8 a.m., the legendary three-masted ship, a former glory of the merchant navy, was still off the coast of Marseille harbor, beyond the Frioul Islands and the Plagne lighthouse, on calm seas and a shining sun.

The Belen will then arrive at the Old Port of Marseille at 19:45, where about 150,000 people are expected. Upon arrival on French soil, the Olympic flame will be carried by Florent Manaudou, whose older sister Laura already had the honor of capturing it two weeks ago in Olympia, Greece.

Then the ceremony of lighting the first Olympic cauldron will take place on the Brotherhood embankment, at the end of a floating pontoon about a hundred meters long in the shape of an athletics track. Will Florent Manaudou be in charge of this mission or will he pass the baton to another person for this symbolic ignition? Tensions remained high on the issue Wednesday morning.

The 33-year-old French swimmer, a gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, will be the first of 11,000 torchbearers in France. The latter will be distributed in Marseille this Wednesday, May 8th, and also on Thursday, May 9th. Before continuing your journey through the rest of France.

The Olympic flame will spread throughout mainland France, as well as abroad, until July 26, the date of the opening ceremony of the Paris Games. The final torchbearer, whose identity is still unknown, will then set the Olympic cauldron on fire. This will end on August 11, at the end of the Games.