Officials accept Olympic torch at venue of first modern Games
The Paris Oympics flame was formally handed to French organizers on Friday in the all-marble stadium where the first modern Games were held in Athens in 1896.
Greek water polo player Ioannis Fountoulis, the last in a long line of torchbearers, used the flame to light a cauldron at the Panathenaic Stadium. From there, it was delivered to Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet.
Safely in the lantern, the flame will depart for France on Saturday on a 19th century sailing ship across the Mediterranean Sea, to make landfall 12 days later in the southern port city of Marseille.
From Olympia’s ancient stadium, a relay of torchbearers carried it along a 3,100-mile route through Greece, which included several islands and an overnight stop on the ancient Acropolis.
The Olympic flame will be housed overnight in the French Embassy, to leave Athens’ port of Piraeus on Saturday on the Belem, a French three-masted sailing ship.
The Games run from July 26August 11.
ELSEWHERE Ex-Stanford center Reveno joins staff
Former Stanford center and assistant coach Eric Reveno has returned to the Farm as the associate head coach on Kyle Smith’s staff. Reveno, who played for the Cardinal in the 1980s, was the head coach at Portland for 10 seasons (200616). He spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Oregon State. Steve Kroner
In other college basketball news, Southern California coach Lindsay Gottlieb has signed a contract extension through the 2029-30 season after the Trojans reached the NCAA Elite Eight in her third season and made their deepest tournament run in 30 years, athletic director Jen Cohen announced Friday.
Also Friday, Oregon State’s Jordan Pope, a guard from Oakley, announced he is transferring to Texas, and UCLA is adding forward Tyler Bilodeau from Oregon State. Meanwhile Rylan Griffen, a starter on the Alabama team that reached the NCAA Final Four, signed with Kansas and star center Hunter Dickinson announced he will return to Kansas.
NHL: Defensemen Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov got Carolina off to a fast start and the Hurricanes held on to beat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Thursday night for a 3-0 lead in the first-round series.
At Tampa, Fla., Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves, Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and Florida beat Tampa Bay to take a 3-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Soccer: Brazilian soccer star Marta plans to retire from the women’s national team after this year. The six-time women’s world player of the year has told CNN Brasil that she hopes to play in the Olympics in Paris.
Auto racing: Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden accepted blame for manipulating the push-to-pass system in his season-opening win. Newgarden says he is “not a liar” and didn’t intentionally break the rules.