Paris 2024 President Estanguet carrying the Flame in a special lantern prior to boarding the Belem.
Passage to Marseille
by Philip Barker at the Port of Piraeus
The Olympic Flame for Paris 2024 has sailed from Piraeus on the sailing ship Belem.
It was escorted to the harbour wall by the trireme Olympias crewed by the Hellenic Navy.
Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet carried the Flame aboard in a safety lamp where he was greeted by the Belem’s Captain Aymeric Gibet and 16 young people selected to join the crew.
“The Games are about engaging with the youth and we are so proud to have this opportunity to these young people,” Estanguet explained.
“I am sure they will become ambassadors after what they will live and feel around this crossing.”
A four-time Olympian, Estanguet won three gold medals in canoe slalom.
“I thought that after having the three gold medals, that all the emotion with the Games would be less intense, but you know what, to win the right to organise the Games it has been also a great emotion and to have the Flame and to take it on this boat back to France, its again a great emotion and I am so passionate with this event,” said Estanguet.
“The Games are the centre of my life, le jour de gloire est arrivé, and it’s our turn, we are so determined to offer the best of France to showcase what this country has to offer.”
A group from the ship had watched the Handover Ceremony in Athens the previous evening before making final preparations for a voyage expected to last some ten days.
“Sailing is an important Olympic sport so it makes sense,” Estanguet added.
A replica of the type of vessel used at the time of the Olympic Games in antiquity, the Belem had helped convey the Flame through Greece in 1988 before the Seoul Olympics and also at Athens 2004.
The ship is scheduled to arrive in Marseille on May 8, when it will be greeted by a flotilla of little ships.
Swimming gold medallist Florent Manaudou is set to be the first Torch Bearer on French soil.
The Flame has travelled by sea on a number of occasions since 1948 and in 1960 was conveyed from Piraeus to Sicily by the sailing ship Amerigo Vespucci before the Rome Olympics.
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