There will be 10,000 torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame, which will cross around sixty French departments from May to July 2024. Kicking off the Paris Games, the flame, lit in Olympia in Greece as tradition dictates, will arrive by sea in Marseilles aboard the three-master Bélem on May 8. She will then begin a journey through France until July 26, the opening night of the Olympic Games. But while many torchbearers will be chosen by Paris 2024 and its sponsors, the general public also has the opportunity to apply, recalls Le Parisien.
With the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, the Cojo, the selections, which began on June 1, end in a week, on Friday June 30. You have to apply on a dedicated internet platform. The partner companies, which finance two-thirds of the events of the route in the cities where the flame passes, also offer their selections. Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne are launching their own selections until September 30. And from July 17, it will be Coca-Cola’s turn.
The selection of torchbearers will continue until the beginning of 2024, when the identity of the lucky winners will be announced. They may be sports educators, great champions, personalities of a territory, craftsmen with “special know-how” or people “who are committed”. While the vast majority will be known at the start of the year, the names of the great champions and personalities will be revealed over the coming months – with the ultra-guarded secret of the last torchbearer.