Oldest surviving French Torchbearer carried Flame again at 99!
by Philip Barker at Palais de Congres, Porte Maillot, Paris
One of the first Frenchmen to carry the Olympic Flame has now become a Torchbearer again in 2024.
99-year-old Daniel Rebiffé took the Torch in Étampes, some 50 kilometres southwest of Paris, on stage 64 of the Relay.
“I wasn’t worried about my heart but my legs were another matter, but in the end they held up,” he told Le Parisien.
It was revealed that he had been in training since his participation was announced.
His son Sylvan had lobbied organisers to allow his father to participate.
“He played to the crowds, he really was the happiest man,” Sylvan said.
Rebiffé senior had previously participated 75 years ago when the Torch Relay passed through France on its way to London for the 1948 Olympics.
The Torch Relay continued throughout the night and Rebiffé recalled how British officials had accompanied the Relay in a Rolls Royce.
Rebiffé had been one of a group of runners who had carried the Flame through eastern France.
He had been a talented athlete in his younger days and had raced as a member of La Garde républicaine.
He had trained with the legendary Alain Mimoun who won marathon gold in 1956 and had also run against Emil Zátopek.
Some 160 runners carried the Flame on a day which saw the Flame make its way from Étampes to Évry-Courcouronnes.
The Relay also visited the French Rugby Federation training headquarters where rugby players provided the “collectif” relay.
Olympic bronze medallist Daniel Sangouma a key member of the powerful French relay squad which dominated European sprinting in the early 1990s also carried the Flame.
The final celebratory cauldron for the day was lit by Ladji Doucouré who won gold over 110m hurdles and in the 4x100m Relay at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.
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