Paris organizers take delivery of Olympic flame at Greek venue of first modern Games
Time:2024-05-21 12:59:24 Source:businessViews(143)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — 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.
A few moments of suspense followed as assistants struggled to light the lantern that will carry the flame to France.
“It wants to stay in Greece,” Estanguet joked.
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.
The flame was kindled on April 16 at Olympia in southern Greece, where the ancient games were held for more than 1,000 years from about 776 B.C. to A.D. 393.
Previous:Uber and Lyft say they'll stay in Minnesota after Legislature passes driver pay compromise
Next:Red Lobster seeks bankruptcy protection after closing some restaurants
You may also like
- Biden says Brown v. Board of Education ruling was about more than education
- New Mexico high court upholds man's 3 murder convictions in 2018 shooting deaths near Dixon
- Shanghai rout Zhejiang as unbeaten run reaches 10
- Official resigns after guilty plea to drug conspiracy in Mississippi and North Carolina vape shops
- Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Maryland ban on rifles known as assault weapons
- Weddings should be subsidised by the government for low
- How a stem cell transplant could help to stop epilepsy seizures
- Body of last missing victim recovered from Baltimore Key Bridge collapse site
- Pentagon vows to keep weapons moving to Ukraine as Kyiv faces a renewed assault by Russia