Olympic flame takes seaborne journey to 2024 Paris Games
MARSEILLE (AP) – The Olympic flame is going for a sail.
Instead of arriving overland, the symbolic flame alighting the 2024 Paris Games will take to the seas from its birthplace in Greece, arriving aboard a three-mast tall ship in the French port of Marseille.
Paris organizers announced the flame’s journey on Friday at City Hall in Marseille, a former Greek colony founded 2,600 years ago.
According to tradition, the flame will be lit by the sun’s rays at a ceremony in Ancient Olympia. Then it will be carried by the Olympic torch to Athens and across the Mediterranean to the famed Old Port of Marseille, where the flame will be greeted by an armada of boats along the French coastline, organizers said.
It will travel to the Marseille marina – where Olympic sailing competitions will be based – and the Marseille stadium hosting Olympic soccer games.