With 79 days left until the start of the Paris Olympic Games, France welcomed the Olympic flame this Wednesday with a spectacular display in the port of Marseille. More than 120,000 people welcomed the Belem, the ship that transported the Olympic fire, in the old port of this French town.
And he did it in the same Lacydon cove where Greek sailors who arrived 2,600 years ago founded Massalia. The Olympic flame left Greece a couple of weeks ago and will now undertake a journey through all French territories, including those overseas, before arriving in Paris on July 26 to kick off the Games.
Greeted by bagpipes, sirens and the horns of the armada of the 1,024 ships that came to escort it, including a gigantic container ship in the colors of the Paris 2024 Games, the Belem arrived at the old port of Marseille.
The Olympic flame disembarked from Belem at the hands of Florent Manaudou, Olympic swimming champion in 2012. He was the first bearer of the Olympic torch on French soil. He descended on a long red carpet and handed the flame to Nantenin Keïta, Paralympic 400 meters champion in Rio.
The best kept secret was who would light the cauldron. There was speculation that it would be Zinedine Zidane, but in the end it was the Marseille rapper Jul who had this great honor.
The party was completed with musical performances by Jul and several national artists in a massive event surrounded by strong security measures and headed by French President Emmanuel Macron.
