Retired athlete Marie-Josée Perek (56) and active athlete Teddy Ligner (35) lit the flame at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on a river rather than a stadium for the first time ever.
The lighting of the flame was the highlight of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Sunday (Sept. 27) along the iconic Seine River in Paris, France.
Perek and Lineur stood side by side to light the flame, signaling the start of the Paris Games.
Perek is a track and field star who won gold medals in the women’s 400 meters at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 200 and 400 meters in Atlanta in 1996.
The Caribbean native of French Guadeloupe was consistently tipped to be the final torchbearer for the Games, which emphasize “love” and “inclusion,” and he performed the ceremony that actually opened the Paris Games.
He won gold medals in London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016 in the men’s heavyweight category (over 100 kilograms) and Tokyo 2020 in 2021 in the mixed team event.
René is also from Guadeloupe.
Perek and René lit the “hot air balloon” torch in the Tuileries Gardens.
This time, the torch was not in the form of a cup, which has been used in the past at the Summer and Winter Games.
As soon as it was lit, the torch seemed to float into the air.
It was the most creative torch in history, inspired by the French Montpierre brothers’ successful unmanned flight of a hot air balloon in 1783.
The ‘Hot Air Balloon Torch’ is 30 meters high and 22 meters wide.
The process of lighting the flame was dynamic.
French soccer star Zinedine Zidane handed the flame to 14-time French Open tennis champion Rafael Nadal (Spain) at the Trocadero.
Nadal traveled by boat to the Louvre with other legendary sports stars, including Carl Lewis (athletics), Serena Williams (tennis – USA), and Nadia Comaneci (gymnastics – Romania).
The flame was then carried by French sports stars including Amelie Moresmo (tennis), Tony Parker (basketball) and Renaud Lavillenie (athletics), and several Paralympic athletes ran alongside to hand it over to Perek and Ligner. 파워볼실시간