The Olympic flame arrived in Paris on Sunday, where the Olympic Games begin in 12 days, coinciding with France’s national holiday on July 14, a ceremony presided over by French President Emmanuel Macron, who is facing an unprecedented political crisis in the country.
A mounted soldier had the honour of going down the Avenue Foch carrying the famous torch to the Arc de Triomphe, where a group of young people from Seine-Saint-Denis, the impoverished department neighbouring Paris where the bulk of the Games events are held, were waiting for him.
The soldier lit the torch for one of the young men – the way of passing the baton – who passed it from hand to hand among several of his colleagues, all dressed in white and situated in front of the presidential tribune located under the Arc de Triomphe, the highest point of the Champs Elysees.
Development
Accompanied by his caretaker government, Macron, together with his wife Brigitte, greeted the arrival of the Olympic torch with a performance of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise.
The French president has been facing an unprecedented political crisis since he dissolved the National Assembly and called early legislative elections on June 9, following his party’s setback in the European elections and the comfortable victory of Marine Le Pen’s far-right party.
At the end of the two rounds of elections (June 30 and July 7), the Assembly was divided into three large groups (left, Macronist centrism and far right) with remote possibilities of reaching an agreement to form an Executive.
Although the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) won the election, it did so far short of an absolute majority. This heterogeneous coalition, which includes moderates from the Socialist Party (PS) to the dissidents of La France Insoumise (LFI), remains stuck in negotiations to present a candidate for the head of government to Macron.
However, the president, who is responsible for appointing the executive, considered that no group won the elections, which has outraged the left, and announced that he wants “a broad-based coalition.”
The Olympic flame
Since arriving in France in May from Greece, the torch has already travelled across much of France and arrived in the capital on Sunday. Between Sunday and Monday it will complete a journey with an important symbolic component.
Around 520 people will take turns carrying the torches along paths of between 200 and 400 metres each, including figures such as former footballer and current Olympic coach Thierry Henry, who will take over from the Champs-Élysées.
Actor Jamel Debbouze, Paris Opera star dancer Sylvie Tellier, singer Kim Seok-Jin (from the K-pop group BTS), chef Mory Sacko, comedian Claudia Tagbo, three-time Olympic athletics champion Marie José Perec and five-time Olympic fencing medallist Laura Flessel are also among those chosen.
The National Assembly, the Panthéon, the Sorbonne, Place de la Bastille, the Bataclan, the Olympia theatre, Place Vendôme, the Louvre and the Pompidou Centre are some of the highlights of Sunday’s tour, which ends at City Hall, where a cauldron will be lit for the evening.
Monday’s tour
On Monday, the tour will begin at the new La Chapelle Arena, a new venue that will host the Olympic rhythmic gymnastics and badminton competitions.
From there, the Olympic flame will travel across the city to symbolic sites such as the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Arc de Triomphe, the Place du Trocadero with its views of the Eiffel Tower, the Roland Garros tennis courts and the Place de la Bastille.
The journey will end at the Place de la République, with the enormous sculpture of Marianne, a republican symbol, where another cauldron will be lit.
From Tuesday, the Olympic flame will continue its journey through France, especially through several northern departments and the capital region, before returning to Paris for the inauguration ceremony on the 26th, when the final cauldron will be lit in the Tuileries Gardens.
Paris / EFE
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2024-07-14 21:05:38
