The start of the route of the Olympic flame in France began this Thursday at the Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica in Marseille, where the footballer Basil Boli was the first to carry the symbol, which should arrive in Paris on July 26.
The former French footballer, who scored the only goal in Olympique Marseille’s victory in the 1993 European Cup final, started the relay next to the golden Bonne-Mere statue, the symbol of the city in the south of France.
Dressed in white, like all the couriers, he testified soon after, giving the “kiss of the torch” to 83-year-old Colette Cataldo, a Marseille football fan who sang “Allumer le feu” (“Light is the fire”) by Frenchman Johnny Hallyday.
“It gets your heart pumping and it’s fantastic. This is the Olympic flame, it is a symbol of sport, of coexistence, of everything we could want in the world,” said Basil Boli.
Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee, previously said: “Be careful, your evidence will be transmitted very quickly, so take advantage!”
“We started well. Now it’s time to start! We will give these moments of celebration and emotion every day,” he added, referring to the 10,000 couriers – torchbearers – in 400 French cities who will travel to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris , which will run from July 26 to August 11.
The Olympic flame was lit on Wednesday evening near the port of Marseille by Marseille rapper Jules in front of 150,000 people.
The torch is one of the symbols of the Olympic Games and recalls the legend of classical Greek antiquity about Prometheus, who stole fire from the forge of Ephaestus (Vulcan) to give it to mortals.