Joyful crowds gathered in the streets of the southern French port of Marseille on Thursday to see torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame through the city's most symbolic sites, a day after it arrived in France, writes UNN citing AP.
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It was the first leg of an 11-week journey across the country with the torch, which will be carried by some 10,000 torchbearers and will pass through more than 450 cities before the opening ceremony of the Games in Paris on July 26.
Former soccer player Basile Boly, who played for Marseille's team in the 1990s, started the relay on Thursday from the Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica, which overlooks Marseille and the Mediterranean Sea.
"I'm very proud," Boly said. - You feel like you are on top of the world because the Olympic flame has a special zaniness. ... It's a symbol of sport!"
Among the torchbearers was Ukrainian gymnast Maria Vysochanskaya, who won two gold medals at the 2020 European Championships and competed at the Tokyo Olympics.
Her inclusion was an expression of solidarity with Ukraine, as well as a symbolic gesture in honor of Europe Day, which falls annually on May 9. Vysochanskaya led a group of 27 other athletes representing all European Union member states.
Supplement
Marseille celebrated the arrival of the flame with great pomp on Wednesday, with more than 230,000 people attending a ceremony in the Old Port, according to the city's mayor, Benoit Payan. French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron also traveled to Marseille.
French Olympic swimmer Florent Manadou became France's first Olympic torchbearer after the Olympic flame arrived in Marseille's Old Port on Wednesday on a majestic three-masted ship from Greece for a sunset welcoming ceremony.
During the Games, Marseille will host a sailing competition and several soccer matches.
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