The 2024 Olympic Torch (Paris 2024)
The Paris 2024 Olympics are fast approaching, but if you didn’t get tickets there is still a fun way to participate. Go see the Olympic Torch on its relay run across France!
The first modern torch relay was held during the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics when a special torch was designed to uniquely represent the host country. Since then, host countries have used the relaying of the Olympic fire into the opening ceremony as a way to highlight their national achievements, people and history. The flame is always lit in Olympia in Greece and transferred over the course of many days from bearer to bearer across the miles to the Olympic cauldron.
The relay leading up to the Paris 2024 Olympics will be lit in Olympia on April 16 and brought via ship to Marseille by May 8. It will travel around western France for two months before departing on June 7 for five French territories, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, French Polynesia and Reunion Island. After flying back, the torch will be run throughout eastern France before entering Paris on July 14 in preparation for the opening ceremony on July 26.
Each of the 11,000 torch bearers gets a specially designed torch that holds a liquid fuel, making it easy to pass the flame without it going out. The newest torch was designed by Mathieu Lehanneur and represents the three Paris 2024 symbols: equality is embodied in its symmetrical shape, water is stylized by wavy relief, and peacefulness shows in its gentle curves.
The route through France is intended to showcase four themes: The history of France and the people behind it, France’s natural heritage, French know-how and creativity, and the vitality of sport in all French territories.
Where to Spot the Torch
The actual route of the runner’s between each place will be available at www.paris2024.org/en/olympic-torch-relay-route in the days prior to its arrival. Here are the major stopping points nearby:
June 26
Strasbourg
June 27
Site Verrier de Meisenthal
Maison de Robert Schuman
Scy-Chazelles
Metz
