Personalities, such as the actor Jean-Pascal Zadi, the director Alice Diop or the footballer Jean-Pierre Papin, but also anonymous activists: the names of most of the 10,000 torchbearers who will take part in the Olympic torch relay were revealed on Monday. All these torchbearers will hold the Olympic torch for about 4 minutes over a distance of 200 metres on a route around France, from Marseille on 8 May to Paris on the day of the opening ceremony of the Games, 26 July. Revealed at the last moment, the name of the last torchbearer is still shrouded in mystery, even if that of Marie-José Perec, French Olympic icon, is frequently mentioned.
To discover
- Five things to know about the 2024 Olympics ticketing
The route of the relay, in 64 territories (including five overseas) that were willing to pay 150,000 euros (excluding taxes) to see the flame pass through their territory, has been known since the summer of 2023. The names of some of the torchbearers had also already been revealed, such as astronaut Thomas Pesquet, actor Djamel Debbouze, swimmer Camille Lacourt, and gymnast Emilie Le Pennec... Swimmers Laure and Florent Manadou are the "captains" of the operation. An innovation for these Olympics is that there will also be "collective relays", led by sports federations. A group of 24 athletes around a torchbearer will provide entertainment.
No elected officials or religious
30% of the torchbearers were selected by the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and the sports movement, the sponsors of the torch relay (Coca-Cola and Banques Populaires-Caisses d'Epargne) and the other partners of the Olympic Games by also choosing 30% each. The last 10% were selected by the territories hosting the relay. According to the rules of the International Olympic Committee, sitting elected officials or religious figures cannot carry the flame.
Among the pallbearers revealed on Monday were fencer and former French sports minister Laura Flessel, boxing champion Sarah Ourahmoune, basketball player Gabby Williams, former footballer Jean-Pierre Papin and Moussa Magassa, organizer of an "18th century Africa Cup of Nations" in the Goutte d'Or district of Paris. The Seine-Saint-Denis department has selected people from its territory, such as the director Alice Diop, Oumar Diemé, a former Senegalese infantryman, and Georges Honigman, president of the Noisy-le-Grand volleyball club since 1973.