PARIS: The Olympic flame will stay within the Paris City Hall on the night of July 14 when France celebrates Bastille Day ahead of the 2024 Summer Games, mayor Anne Hidalgo said today.
"On July 14, the flame arrives in Paris ... and it will stay at the City Hall of Paris," Hidalgo told Reuters.
"It will be protected but it will 'sleep' here and I'm very very proud of it. We are looking into where exactly it can sleep peacefully and not be extinguished before resuming its route in Paris."
The flame will be carried across Paris on July 14-15.
It will then travel through the wider Paris region and return to the capital for the opening ceremony on July 26, concluding a 68-days torch relay in the Games' host country.
The flame will be lit on April 16 in ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Games.
In a traditional ceremony, actress Mary Mina, playing the high priestess for the first time, will use a parabolic mirror and the sun's rays to ignite the torch.
After the traditional lighting ceremony, Mina will then pass the flame to the first torchbearer, Olympic rowing champion Stefanos Douskos, at the edge of the ancient Olympic stadium for the start of an 11-day Greek relay.
The flame will then be handed over to Paris Games organisers in Athens on April 26 before spending a night at the French Embassy in the Greek capital and then departing the next day for France on board a three-masted ship, the 'Belem'.
The flame is set to arrive in France on May 8 in Marseille. --Reuters
