Agde: Georges Grimaud will carry the Olympic flame next May

Georges Grimaud devra parcourir 200 m avec la flamme olympique au mois de mai prochain. MIDI LIBRE – MICHEL DESNOS

Employee of a service station on the highway, standard bearer of the local section of the National Union of Combatants (UNC), the Agathois is the happy one winner of a competition organized by the multinational Coca Cola, sponsor of the Olympic Games. 

From the Shell service station where he works every night, on the Béziers-Montblanc motorway area, "in the direction towards Spain", he explains. he, Georges Grimaud sees all of Europe passing by: truck drivers, vacationers, pilgrims heading to Lourdes or simple everyday workers taking the A9 motorway, one of the busiest routes along the route. rsquo;Europe. Needless to say, he has some stories and anecdotes up his sleeve.

But the most beautiful one certainly remains to be written. The one who is also the standard bearer of the Agathois section of the National Union of Combatants (UNC), has in fact just been selected to carry the Olympic flame next May, in Aude or in Hérault (read elsewhere), the future will tell.

He participated in the Euro-Marathon in 1989

How this football instructor at Montblanc then at AS Bessan got there ? The story is like a fairy tale. "At work, we took part in a competition organized by Coca-Cola, which offered to be one of the 10,000 torchbearers of the Olympic flame," he explains. "And it’s the site where I work that won! " And as Georges was the only one from his team to propose his candidacy, he is off for the great adventure. "I sent the letter at the end of September and for weeks, I had no response, until January 15, when an email from Coca-Cola came to me. informed that I had been selected." Magnificent news for those who took part at the end of the 80s in the Euro-Marathon, a relay race from Brussels to Cape Town d’Agde, with young people from the Baldy educational center.

A child of the Baldy Institution

It is undoubtedly thinking of Baldy precisely that Georges projects himself onto this Olympic episode, he who was not raised by his family and was placed in this institution, "from the age of 6 to 19 years old, but I appreciated this time when in Agde, between young people, there was a lot of friendship, understanding, and understanding. empathy too." Today, he is still president of the Baldy alumni association.

Georges Grimaud will know in March where and when he will race. In the meantime, he has resumed training, even if the 200 m to be done in 4 minutes maximum is absolutely nothing scary. But the essential thing is elsewhere. "I'm very proud, it’s so improbable, fantastic." A nice helping hand from destiny that will leave memories forever.

The Olympic flame in Hérault on May 13

C’is an association between the cities of Montpellier, Sète and… Millau, which will allow the Olympic flame to travel through Hérault and Aveyron, with a passage on the viaduct, during the single day of Monday May 13. A tight timing to say the least, but a huge moment for the department.

For Georges Grimaud, the decision to know where and when he would carry the flame has not yet been made. It could also be in Aude, which will receive the flame on Thursday May 16, with stages in Carcassonne, Narbonne, Castelnaudary, Limoux, Gruissan, Lagrasse and the Cathar castles of Peyrepertuse and Quéribus. In any case, it will be a great moment for Agathois.

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