The Paris 2024 Olympic Torch Relay route has been revealed, with Nice among 65 cities to host the iconic relay in June.
On Friday 23rd June, the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 unveiled the next Olympic Torch Relay route in the symbolic Sorbonne University, where Pierre de Coubertin held the founding speech for the Modern Olympic Games.
The Torch Relay will start in Olympia on 16th April 2024 with the arrival of the Olympic flame in Marseille on 8th May from Athens, Greece.
Its 68-day journey will then officially begin, taking in 65 French territories courtesy of 10,000 Torch bearers visiting some of the most iconic and historic places in the host nation.
Olympic Torch Relay in Nice
On 18th June, the flame will arrive in Nice after completing an ‘Oceans Relay’ of five overseas territories: Guadeloupe, French Guyane, Martinique, French Polynesia and the Réunion.
After Nice, the torch is expected to travel through Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Cannes, Grasse, Villefranche-sur-mer, Valberg and La Colmiane.
It is set to be a huge celebration, designed to create excitement in the lead up to the Paris Games which are due to kick off on Friday 26th July 2024.
The “Forerunners Relay”
Also called “Forerunners Relay”, it will highlight the beauty and diversity of France – its history, outstanding panoramas, expertise, traditions, talents, creators and innovators – and announce the return of the Olympic Summer Games, 100 years after France last hosted the event.
“Today, we are proud to unveil the route of the Olympic Torch Relay, which will be more than a circuit around France in 68 days. It will showcase the incredible breadth of our country: Heritage, landscapes, museums, performing arts… And of course, its inhabitants,” said Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024.
The Olympic flame will visit the likes of the medieval fortress of Carcassonne (Occitanie), the Chateau de Versailles, and the Chateaux of the Loire Valley. It will illuminate architectural masterworks like churches and abbeys, including the iconic Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, and highlight some of the major figures who inspired and contributed to French culture such as Jeanne d’Arc, hero of the Hundred Years’ War, in Orléans.
The Relay will travel through more than 400 cities including 65 stage cities. Torch bearers will cover an average distance of 200 metres each.
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Image source: olympics.com