Olympic Games 2024: Flame travels to Paris – What happened in the impressive handover ceremony

The Olympic Flame is on its way to Paris and the 2024 Olympic Games.

The president of the EOE, Spyros Kapralos, handed over the Olympic Flame to Tony Estanguet, president of the “Paris 2024” Organizing Committee.

On Saturday, the flame will be transferred to the French three-masted ship Belem (built in 1896) and transported to Marseille, France.

The emblematic event at the Panathenaic Stadium, which was presented by Nikos Aliagas, was dominated by the presence of Nana Mouschouri, who performed the National Anthems of Greece and France, and the National Symphony Orchestra and the ERT Choir, who performed the Olympic Anthem and Dimitris Papadimitriou’s work “Pindar’s Olympian”, with tenor Babis Velissarios.

Watch the handover ceremony of the Olympic Flame at the Panathenaic Stadium

At the Panathinaikos Stadium, the Olympic Light arrived from the champion of the walking race Antigoni Drisbiotis, with the last torchbearer being the captain of the National polo team Yiannis Fundoulis and his teammates, who won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Images from the ceremony at Panathinaikos Stadium

The mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, in his post on social media, noted about the Olympic flame:

“Today, Athens handed over the Olympic Flame to Paris, the host city of the 33rd Olympic Games.

Outside the Athens city hall, I received the Olympic Torch and then handed over the torch to our special fencing champion, Georgia Kaltsis.

It is the wish of all of us, that the Olympic Idea travels to every corner of the planet and carries the message of peace to the places that are tested by wars”.