Published: 09:19, April 27, 2024 | Updated: 09:22, April 27, 2024
Paris Olympics organizers receive flame in Athens ahead of torch relay
By Reuters
President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (Cojo) Tony Estanguet (second right) holds the Olympic torch aloft next to President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and IOC member Spyros Capralos (left) during the handover ceremony of the Olympic Flame for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games at Panathinean stadium in Athens, on April 26, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)
ATHENS - Paris 2024 Olympics organizers on Friday received the Games' flame in a handover ceremony in Athens ahead of a 68-day torch relay that will end with the opening ceremony on July 26.
The flame arrived at the central Athens' Panathenaic stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896, after an 11-day relay across Greece and following the lighting in ancient Olympia last week.
A member of the Paris 2024 holds the Olympic flame during the flame handover ceremony, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Athens, at Panathenaic stadium, where the first modern games were held in 1896. On Saturday the flame will board the Belem, a French three-masted sailing ship, built in 1896, to be transported to France. (PHOTO / AP)Priestesses perform a dance during the handover ceremony of the Olympic Flame for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games at the Panathinean stadium in Athens, on April 26, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)
Several thousand fans and tourists sat in the stands of the horse-shaped marble stadium on a sun-drenched afternoon as the head of the Paris Games, Tony Estanguet, received the torch from Greek Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos.
He carried it out of the stadium and the flame will be kept in a lantern overnight at the French Embassy in the Greek capital.
Beatrice Hess, France's greatest Paralympic champion, carries the Olympic flame during the flame handover ceremony at Panathenaic stadium, where the first modern games were held in 1896, in Athens on April 26, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)(From left) The Olympic flag, the French national flag and the Greek national flag are raised during the handover ceremony of the Olympic Flame for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games at the Panathinean stadium in Athens, on April 26, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)
It will leave on Saturday on board the three-masted ship the "Belem" for the French port of Marseille where it will arrive on May 8.
An estimated 150,000 spectators are expected to attend the ceremony at the Old Port of Marseille, which will host the Olympic sailing competitions.
The last torch bearer in Marseille will climb on the roof of the Velodrome stadium on May 9. Marseille was founded by the Greek settlers of Phocaea around 600 BC.
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