The Olympic flame reached Marseille, just outside the Old Port, amid tight security on Wednesday, 79 days before the Paris 2024 Games Opening Ceremony.
More than 150,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony after a six-hour parade of the three-masted Belem, which left Greece on April 27 with the flame after it was lit in Ancient Olympia 11 days earlier.
The ship was awaited by 1,024 boats. Fourteen young people aged 16 to 24 had been selected to join the professional crew of the Belem and accompany the Olympic Flame on its Mediterranean crossing. They joined the ship’s professional crew of 16.
Ces images du Belem arrivant dans le port de Marseille avec la #FlammeOlympique sont magnifiques. J’espère que ces JO seront l’occasion pour chacun d’etre fier de la France.
pic.twitter.com/i7EoWIGAan
— Eric Klein (@EricKLein_) May 8, 2024
“We conceived this event as a ceremony, the fifth of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics (on top of the opening and closing ceremonies,” said Paris 2024 executive director Thierry Reboul who is in charge of ceremonies.
“Marseille is the ideal spot to create memories.”
Fireworks and concert welcome Olympic Flame in Marseille
“It was the obvious choice,” Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, said of Marseille, which was founded around 600 BC by Greek settlers from Phocea.
C’est un grand jour pour @Paris2024 !
La France s’apprête à vivre un moment historique : l’arrivée de la flamme olympique à Marseille !
Le @troismats_Belem sera sur le littoral marseillais à partir de 11h pour une parade maritime, et fera son entrée dans le Vieux-Port à… pic.twitter.com/c6DdlBntQ5
— Jeux Olympiques (@jeuxolympiques) May 8, 2024
Fireworks and a free concert will complete the show in Marseille which will be broadcast live on French TV. The honour of being the first torch bearer will fall to four-time Olympic medal-winning swimmer Florent Manaudou.
Other stars to take part in the parade, which continues in Marseille on Thursday, include NBA-winning basketball player Tony Parker and Ivory Coast football great Didier Drogba, as well as charity and entertainment figures.
Tight security
In the background, around 6,000 security forces are to be on duty at a time when the country is on its highest terror alert.
“It’s completely unprecedented for the national police to mobilize so many people on the same day at the same place,” regional police coordinator Cedric Esson told reporters on Monday.
Extremely tight security will be a constant feature as the torch travels through more than 450 French towns and cities, and passes by dozens of tourist attractions including the Mont Saint Michel.
Around 200 members of the security forces are set to be positioned permanently around it, including an anti-terror SWAT team and anti-drone operatives.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has referred to the risk of protests, including from far-left groups or environmental activists such as Extinction Rebellion.
Organisers have promised a “spectacular” and “iconic” Olympics, with much of the sport set to take place in temporary venues around the City of Light including at the Eiffel Tower and the Invalides.
The Paris Olympics will run from July 26-August 11, followed by the Paralympics from August 28-September 8.