An impressive three-mast ship carried the Olympic torch from Greece for the welcoming ceremony at sundown Wednesday within the metropolis’s Outdated Port.
The ship docked on the pontoon that displays an athletics observe and Manaudou carried it to mainland France.
The ship sailed into Marseille’s outdated port with the French nationwide anthem, La Marseillaise, echoing from the embankment and a French Air drive flyover with planes first drawing the 5 Olympic rings after which the red-blue-white colors of the nation’s flag.
Tens of 1000’s cheered the arrival on the cordoned-off stage space on the shore as 1000’s of others waved from balconies and home windows overlooking the festivities.
It left Athens aboard a ship named Belem, which was first utilized 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 nation enters the video games,” Macron mentioned on the metropolis’s Olympic Marina.
Paris 2024 Olympics Organising Committee President Tony Estanguet mentioned the return of the Olympic Video games to France was trigger for a “improbable celebration.”
“As a former athlete, I understand how vital the beginning of a contest is. That’s the reason we selected Marseille, as a result of it is positively one of many cities most in love with sports activities,” added Estanguet, a former Olympic canoeing star with gold medals from the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Video games.
Security of tourists and residents has been a high precedence for authorities in Marseille, France’s second largest metropolis with practically 1,000,000 inhabitants.
About 8,000 law enforcement officials have been deployed across the harbor.
1000’s of firefighters and bomb disposal squads have been positioned across the metropolis together with maritime police and anti-drone groups patrolling the town’s waters and its airspace.
“It is a monumental day and we’ve got been working exhausting for guests and residents of Marseille to take pleasure in this historic second,” mentioned Yannick Ohanessian, the town’s deputy mayor.
The torch relay will begin on Thursday in Marseille, earlier than heading to Paris via iconic locations throughout the nation, from the world-famous Mont Saint-Michel to D-Day touchdown seashores in Normandy and the Versailles Palace.
Heavy police and army presence was seen patrolling Marseille’s metropolis centre on Tuesday, as a army helicopter flew over the Outdated Port, the place a variety of limitations have been arrange.
French Inside Ministry spokesperson Camille Chaize mentioned officers had been ready for safety threats together with terrorism.
“We’re using numerous measures, notably the elite Nationwide Gendarmerie Intervention Group unit, which will likely be current within the torch relay from starting to finish,” she mentioned.
The Olympic cauldron will likely be lit after the Video games’ opening ceremony that can happen on the River Seine on July 26.
The cauldron will likely be lit at a location in Paris that’s being saved top-secret till the day itself.
Amongst reported choices are such iconic spots because the Eiffel Tower and the Tuileries Gardens outdoors the Louvre Museum.
