Paris 2024 Olympics: double celebration in Paris which welcomes the Olympic flame on July 14… route, torchbearers, festivities, we tell you everything

An Olympic celebration timed to the National Day: the relay of the Olympic flame in Paris, this Sunday July 14, 2024 at the end of the July 14 parade, then Monday, is the first major event for the city- host of the Olympic Games, twelve days before the opening ceremony.

The crazy race of the flame must begin around noon on Avenue Foch, at the end of a military parade in a reduced format for the occasion, to celebrate the occasion. #39;complete Place de la République Monday evening (8:45 p.m.), with a free concert.

Between the two, it must cover around 60 kilometers, carried by some 540 torchbearers – 200 on Sunday, 340 on Monday – and supervised by 1,600 police officers and gendarmes, among 18,000 law enforcement officers mobilized for the event.

Life-size test

A life-size test, in more than one way, before the ceremony on July 26 which will present the same challenges: to thrill and reassure on the security and logistical aspect, in a heart of the capital which is becoming increasingly popular. #39;already annoys traffic disruptions.

What torchbearers ?

Among the torchbearers, unknown people and numerous personalities, including the sprinter Marie-José Pérec, the comedian Jamel Debbouze, the journalist Gilles Bouleau… All the major Parisian monuments will be entitled to the flame, with the exception of competition sites (Concorde, Invalides, Eiffel Tower), where preparations prevent its passage.

Fireworks

If the fireworks will indeed be fired from the Eiffel Tower this Sunday evening, the town hall insists on the fact that it will only be visible from afar or on television, but not from the Champ-de-Mars or the Trocadéro, inaccessible.

This fireworks show, designed as a series"tributes to the capital and the values ​​of Olympicism", according to the Paris town hall, will be launched once the flame arrives on the square in front of the Town Hall, around 11:10 p.m., to close a concert and light the cauldron.

Where will the flame go ?

The flame will then spend the night in the golden rooms of the Hôtel de Ville, where the previously registered public will be able to come and watch over it all night, from 12:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. 5 hours. Before that, she already has to travel through the heart of the capital for almost twelve hours.

First escorted, in the final scene of the military parade, by the squires of the Cadre Noir de Saumur and carried by their leader Thibaut Vallette, gold medalist in Rio in 2016. Then launched, at 1 p.m. ;nbsp;from the Champs-Elysées, by the coach of the Olympic football team Thierry Henry, icon of the 1998 world champion Blues.

Crossing the Seine, where Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra bathed on Saturday, she will then illuminate the great symbols of the left bank (National Assembly, Senate, Pantheon, Sorbonne, Notre -Lady) before returning to the right bank (Place des Vosges, Bastille, Canal Saint-Martin, Louvre, Center Pompidou). A parade announced as grandiose and cheerful, with a popular ball, concerts and entertainment of all kinds.

Chic and popular neighborhoods

Monday morning, the relay will set off at 8:15 a.m. from the Porte de la Chapelle, where the Arena now stands, the only facility built for the intramural Olympics, for a new tour of Paris, this time in the outer arrondissements. In Montmartre, after the Sacré-Coeur, the dancers of the Moulin Rouge, who found her fallen wings in April, will greet her with an inevitable French Cancan (9:20 a.m.).

"Two days of unforgettable festivities"

From the chic west – Arc de Triomphe, Trocadéro, Île aux Cygnes – to the more popular districts of Butte-aux-Cailles and Belleville, with a choral tribute to its most famous figure, Edith Piaf, the organizers promise "two days of unforgettable festivities".

Enough to forget the political situation in the country, which plunged the Olympics into a zone of uncertainty ? Launched with great success on May 8 in Marseille, the Olympic course was a great success in France, bringing together some 5 million spectators, according to the organizers. But it was eclipsed by the political upheavals, triggered by the victory of the RN in the European elections and the surprise announcement of the dissolution.

Negotiations have begun with a view to forming a new government, but they are made difficult by the lack of a majority. Other observers believe, on the contrary, that the Olympics can serve as an escape from the heavy political news.