2024-07-31 09:31:21
The Olympic flame arrived in Paris on a diesel tugboat, where it was held aloft by a white-clad torchbearer. The torch had previously been carried by US rapper Snoop Dogg as the relay passed under the ring road.
This 68th stage of the relay, which began with the flame’s arrival in Marseille on May 8, is called “Epilogue”. The torch travelled through Paris before the national holiday of July 14 – Bastille Day, and then on July 15 – through the suburbs, starting its final journey today in Saint-Denis.
Earlier in the morning, the Olympic flame visited the athletes’ village, where International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took turns carrying the torch. Athletes from around the world showed their emotions as they filmed the torch’s passage.
“It’s a goosebumps moment, it’s beautiful,” says Judith Vandermeiren, a Belgian field hockey player.
The torch passed through Saint-Denis, where it was carried by rapper MC Solaar, who hails from the region, and stopped at the Stade de France, where it was Snoop Dogg’s turn. The flame then travelled down the Saint-Denis canal and was handed over to a beaming 17-year-old schoolboy from the area.
The flame was then loaded onto the first of a series of boats plying the canal and sailed past concrete factories and residential areas into Paris, accompanied by a crowd of spectators, guards, officials and even canoeists in fancy dress.
The relay passed through the Parc de la Villette, which was then transformed into the Parc des Nations, where several countries had their “clubhouses”. France dominated the Grand Halle, Brazil was represented in a circus tent, and Mongolia in yurts.
The relay then took to the water and sailed along the Canal de l’Ourcq to the Canal Saint-Martin and the Seine, continuing its triumphant journey to the Olympic Games.
Earlier, “Cursor” wrote that anti-Semitic posters were noticed in Paris on the eve of the Olympics.
Did somethin today.