VIDEO. Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the Olympic flame was lit at the ancient site of Olympia, 101 days before the opening ceremony

La flamme a été allumée à Olympie ce mardi. XinHua – Li Jing

La flamme olympique pour les JO de Paris a été allumée mardi en milieu de journée sur le site antique d’Olympie en Grèce à 101 jours de la cérémonie d’ouverture le 26 juillet.

Due to a cloudy sky on the site of the first Olympic Games of antiquity, the lighting could not be done with the sun's rays as the ancient tradition requires, and was carried out with a reserve flame kept during Monday's dress rehearsal. After an 11-day journey through Greece, the flame will be transported to France for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris on July 26.

🔥 La flamme olympique vient de s'allumer à Olympie, avant les Jeux de Paris 2024 cet été. Elle arrivera à Marseille le 8 mai prochain. pic.twitter.com/xlQAgmatPg

— franceinfo (@franceinfo) April 16, 2024

The lighting of the flame for the Games which will be held until August 11 took place in front of the 2,600 year old ruins of the temple of Hera, in the cradle of Olympicism, in the presence of the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach. "In these difficult times, where wars and conflicts are increasing, people are fed up with hatred", he said in a short speech in Olympia.

"In all of our hearts, we long for something that brings us together again, for something that unifies us, for something that gives us& ;rsquo;hope", he added. "The Olympic flame that we are lighting today symbolizes this hope", also assured the German.

🔴 Le premier porteur de la flamme olympique vient de la transmettre à l'ex-nageuse olympique #LaureManaudou.

Un moment symbolique pour la championne, 20 ans après son sacre aux Jeux d'Athènes de 2004. pic.twitter.com/FowWtMMnhQ

— franceinfo (@franceinfo) April 16, 2024

The president of the organizing committee for the Paris Olympics, Tony Estanguet, also saw in these Olympics "more than ever a force of strength. inspiration […] for all of us and for future generations" as the world is shaken by crises. In Greece, six hundred torchbearers will pass the flame which will travel 5,000 km through seven Greek islands, ten archaeological sites and the Rock of the Acropolis where it will spend a night next to the Parthenon.< /p>

The flame will be in France on May 8

In the Greek port of Piraeus, the flame will embark on April 26 aboard the three-masted Belem which will reach Marseille, in the south-east of France, on May 8. The symbol of the Olympic Games will then cross all of France, passing through the Antilles and French Polynesia.