The Olympic Flame was delivered to the delegation of the “Paris 2024” Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. The Handover Ceremony took place at the Panathenaic Stadium and was hosted by Nikos Aliagas.
Antigoni Drisbiotis brought the Olympic flame to Kallimarmaros and handed it over to Yiannis Fundoulis. At the end, the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Spyros Kapralos, handed over the Olympic Torch to the President of the “PARIS 2024” Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet, to continue his journey to Paris.
The journey of the Olympic Flame from Piraeus to Marseilles
“I especially love this ship. It is a forest teeming with webs and ropes. It is the only 127-year-old commercial sailing vessel in the merchant navy. The unique pleasure boat. Our apprentices come to travel. They come aboard to discover the joy of traditional seamanship. In this sense, “Belem” is a unique treasure.
It conveys naval art. Every sailor senses the ship. It’s sturdy, it’s going like a turtle, but we’re sure we’ll get to our destination,” said 42-year-old Nantes-born Emerick Gibe, a graduate of Marseille’s merchant marine officer school and the son of a sailor.
The “Belem” is the last three-masted sailing ship of the French merchant navy, with square sails and a steel hull, dating from the 19th century and still in operation today.
He took his name from the city of the same name in Brazil, where he began his travels transporting coffee. From its first French owner, it passed into English and then Italian hands, before returning to France.
In this first voyage of the Olympic Flame by sea, the captain of the “Belem” emphasized that “there will be three guards in shifts who will guard it throughout the day. It will be located in a special area in the main living room.”
It is scheduled to arrive in Marseille on May 8. “I imagine there will be a grand reception. About 1000 boats are expected there, and certainly many will be those that will accompany us to the entrance of the port. Then the first torchbearer on French soil will board the ship to receive the Olympic Flame and begin its journey to Paris”, emphasized Emerick Gibbet.
The Olympic Flame – as already known – will cross Marseille from Notre-Dame de la Garde, the Basilica that overlooks Marseille and is the most famous symbol of the city, to the Stade Vélodrome on Thursday 9 of May, the day after her arrival in the French city.
Two of the torchbearers there will be former Marseille player Eric Di Meko and skier Cyprien Sarrazin.
On May 9, the torch relay will start in the city. After finishing at 20:30 on the same day, the symbol of the Olympic Games will then cross the whole of France to arrive in Paris on the day of the opening ceremony of the Games on 26 July. Throughout its journey, it will be carried by approximately 10,000 torchbearers.
