MARSEILLE, France — Huge crowds gathered Wednesday in the southern French metropolis of Marseille, the place an imposing three-mast ship carrying the Olympic torch arrived from Greece forward of a welcoming ceremony at sundown.
Paris Games organizers have promised “fantastic” celebrations in the metropolis, the place the Old Port has been positioned beneath high security.
The torch was lit in Greece final month earlier than it was formally handed to France. It left Athens aboard a ship named Belem, which was first used in 1896, and spent twelve days at sea.
President Emmanuel Macron met with the French Olympic athletes who’ve sailed on Belem with the Olympic torch upon his arrival to Marseille.
“With the arrival of the flame, the country enters the games,” Macron mentioned at the metropolis’s Olympic Marina.
More than a thousand boats will accompany the Belem’s parade round the Bay of Marseille. The ship will dock on a pontoon that appears like an athletics observe in the Old Port.
The welcoming ceremony at nightfall on Wednesday will embody an indication by the jets of the Patrouille de France, the acrobatic staff of the French air pressure.
“The return of the Games to our country will be a fantastic celebration,” mentioned Paris 2024 Olympics Organizing Committee President Tony Estanguet.
“As a former athlete, I know how important the start of a competition is. That is why we chose Marseille, because it’s definitely one of the cities most in love with sports,” added Estanguet, a former Olympic canoeing star with gold medals from the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Games.
Safety of holiday makers and residents has been a high precedence for authorities in Marseille, France’s second largest metropolis with practically one million inhabitants. About 8,000 law enforcement officials have been deployed round in the harbour the place 50,000 individuals gathered in the afternoon, based on City Hall officers. Tens of hundreds extra had been anticipated to attend the night festivities that can embody a flyover by the French Air Force.
Thousands of firefighters and bomb disposal squads have been positioned round the metropolis together with maritime police and anti-drone groups patrolling the metropolis’s waters and its airspace.
“It’s a monumental day and we have been working hard for visitors and residents of Marseille to enjoy this historical moment,” mentioned Yannick Ohanessian, the metropolis’s deputy mayor.
The torch relay will begin on Thursday in Marseille, earlier than heading to Paris by iconic locations throughout the nation, from the world-famous Mont Saint-Michel to D-Day touchdown seashores in Normandy and the Versailles Palace.
Many individuals and households had been strolling alongside the boardwalk on the Mediterranean, beaming with pleasure and curiosity. A band of musicians, sporting T-shirts with the slogan “Marseille, proud to welcome the Olympics Flame,” entertained vacationers and residents in addition to staff who had been organising the Olympic stage and the ponton bridge over which the Olympic flame is anticipated to be carried from the boat to France’s mainland.
“I wanted to see how things are going and maybe come back later with the kids, if it’s not too crowded, to see the flame arrive,” mentioned Paul Vuarambon, a Marseille resident, on a stroll alongside the Old Port together with his son. Despite high security and the overhaul of the complete metropolis for Wednesday’s ceremony, Vaurambon mentioned, “People here are pretty happy with the Olympics.”
France’s Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera confused the symbolic and sensible significance of the occasion after years of preparations for the Paris Games.
“We really want to make sure that the beginning of the torch relay here will drive enthusiasm and a sense of pride for French people. That will give us a a big moment of celebration and joy,” Oudea-Castera mentioned in an interview with The Associated Press.
“Sport can bring up these type of emotions and Olympism is much more than sport,” she added. “It conveys a message to the world and the torch relay is a symbol of peace.”
Olympic swimmer Florent Manaudou has been chosen to be the first service of the flame in France. Manaudou, who received 4 Olympic medals, is the brother of swimmer Laure Manaudou, who received three Olympic medals at Athens in 2004.
“We are extremely proud,” Marseille mayor Benoît Payan mentioned. “This is where it all begins.”
The present will “dazzle the world,” mentioned Payan, including that as much as 150,000 spectators are anticipated in the Old Port.
Marseille individuals “have a sense of celebration, a sense of the game, sport and Olympism in their guts,” he mentioned, recalling that the metropolis was based by Greek colonists some 2,600 years in the past.
Heavy police and army presence was seen patrolling Marseille’s metropolis middle Tuesday, as a army helicopter flew over the Old Port, the place a variety of obstacles have been arrange.
French Interior Ministry spokesperson Camille Chaize mentioned officers had been ready for security threats together with terrorism.
“We’re employing various measures, notably the elite National Gendarmerie Intervention Group unit, which will be present in the torch relay from beginning to end,” she mentioned.
The Olympic cauldron can be lit after the Games’ opening ceremony that can happen on the River Seine on July 26.
The cauldron can be lit at a location in Paris that’s being stored top-secret till the day itself. Among reported choices are such iconic spots as the Eiffel Tower and the Tuileries Gardens exterior the Louvre Museum.