Between its arrival on French soil in Marseilles on May 8 and its terminus on July 26 in Paris, the Olympic flame will visit more than sixty territories. But, due to the asking price to get the torch pass, not all departments fought to be on the route.
“One hundred and eighty thousand euros is always a big financial effort.” When they saw the bill arrive, some departments, such as Val-de-Marne or Yvelines, hesitated. The two Ile-de-France departments finally made the choice to pay the sum claimed by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojo) to be able to welcome the Olympic flame on their land.
The long-awaited route of the flame, unveiled on Friday June 23, will unfold from May 8 to July 26, 2024, from Marseille to Paris, through 64 “territories”, including five communities overseas (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, Reunion, French Polynesia) and five groupings of municipalities. Nearly one in three departments, on the other hand, have given up. In the end, 65 stage towns will close the arrival of the relay each day. Immersed in the horrors of developing a course which, contrary to a promise from the Cojo in February, will not allow 90% of French people to “see the flame less than an hour from home”.
A prohibitive price for many territories
If around thirty departments are not on the route, the reason is above all financial. To welcome the Olympic flame, everyone would have had to pay 180,000 euros. A substantial amount, especially for rural departments such as Creuse, Haute-Vienne or Vosges. In Epinal, prefecture of the Vosges, “the astronomical sum requested” immediately led the municipality to put an end to the project.
Among the notable absentees, the department of Savoie and its sub-prefecture Albertville, host of the 1992 Winter Olympics. After the refusal of the departmental council, this one received a request from the Cojo for the flame to pass all the same in the city. “I presented the file without talking about money, everyone was for it, but when I mentioned the ‘painful’, around 47,000 euros, people slowed down”, says Michel Batailler, the city’s sports assistant. More than thirty years later, the Alpine city still retains the love and the trace of the Games.
“People would have been happy to see the flame pass, but I’m not sure they would have understood that thousands of euros were spent on this event.”
Michel Batailler, sports assistant at the town hall of Albertvilleat franceinfo
Especially since the municipality has projects in progress or to come: the maintenance of the Olympic mast, “which costs 230,000 euros”, the transformation of the Olympic Park into a space for children and families. “All this is really expensive, and I prefer to put the city’s money here”, justifies Michel Batailler.
Arrested in February, the president of the Cojo, Tony Estanguet, had explained in The Team that this “cost share” was far from covering the costs generated by the passage of the flame, stressing that the amount had been fixed in consultation with the associations of elected officials and that the latter had “found that it was a price accessible to all territories”.
Why not modulate the price charged according to the financial resources of each community? According to Michaël Aloïsio, spokesperson for Paris 2024, it is the Association of the departments of France which pleaded for a fixed price system. “Otherwise, the negotiations with each department would have been too specific and difficult,” he assures.
The disappointed hopes of “forgotten” cities of the route
Here and there, some mayors consider themselves confronted with a fait accompli by the decision of the county council not to welcome the flame. In Tulle (Corrèze), we regret that the department, although committed to the Olympic adventure through the “Terre de Jeux” label, did not respond to the Committee’s requests. “I’m a little disappointed that we don’t go to the end”, declares the mayor (PS) of the city, Bernard Combes, while recognizing the high cost of the operation. “Ihe flame remains a symbolic element to promote the sport, so we could have been interested. MBut 180,000 euros for a passage of the flame… There are other priorities.”
“Advancing the price as an argument is perhaps more valid locally in terms of communication”, we suggest to the Cojo, emphasizing that each department is also subject to its own political realities. In Limoges, the LR town hall still does not digest the decision of the departmental council of Haute-Vienne, held by the PS, to have declined the Olympic flame “autonomously, without talking to town halls or urban communities”. Result, “we meet like idiots”breathes Sylvie Rozette, sports assistant to the mayor of Limoges.
“The department wanted to denounce the cost of passage, but if we could have joined forces… I felt that he did not want to give us this gift of the flame.”
Sylvie Rozette, sports assistant at the town hall of Limogesat franceinfo
The deputy notes that Limousin will be deprived of the passage of the flame, since Creuse and Corrèze have also said no. This is also the case in large areas of central-eastern France. To the point of causing regret? This is the Cojo’s intuition. “Some may say to themselves when they see the relay: ‘it’s crazy, we could have gone there'”says Michaël Aloïsio.
But, by presenting precise specifications, with a daily relay by territory and the most important municipality designated as a stopover town at the end of each day, the Committee also made some unfortunates. “We couldn’t please everyone.” are admitted to the departmental council of Maine-et-Loire, where “seven cities will be affected”. For its part, the Val-de-Marne has made its “maximum” by soliciting 15 towns out of the 47 municipalities in the department.
Cities that fought for the flame
Some cities have done everything to see the flame pass despite the initial refusal of their department. This is the case in Hérault, where Sète has joined forces with Montpellier and Millau (Aveyron), so as not to be deprived of “the experience of a lifetime”. The three cities divided the amount requested. Alliances of this type have been forged in Loire-Atlantique, between La Baule, Vertou, Basse-Goulaine and Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, to overcome the refusal of the departmental council, reports West France.
Chateaudun didn’t want to miss it either. The mayor of this sub-prefecture of Eure-et-Loir, Fabien Verdier, did not hesitate when spending 20,000 euros to join forces with Bonneval, Chartres and Dreux. “If we look at the price of seats, thehe only way to have the Olympics is with the flame. People will feel like the Games will be over in our city.”he hopes.
“It’s a way to positively highlight your territory, so 20,000 euros in this case is not expensive.”
Fabien Verdier, mayor of Châteaudunat franceinfo
In the south-west, Saint-Emilion moved closer to Bordeaux and Libourne after the refusal of the Gironde departmental council. “There was a vgeneral disappointment”, slips Joëlle Manuel, first assistant of the wine-growing commune. A disappointment overcome in particular thanks to the support of Bordeaux Métropole, which supports most of the financial effort (100,000 euros). Saint-Emilion participated with 20,000 euros, Libourne and Bordeaux, 30,000.
“We wanted to circumvent the decision of the department”explains the mayor of Libourne, Philippe Buisson. “We cannot blame the Games for locking themselves in a Parisian straitjacket without mobilizing so that the flame goes everywhere. I respect each other’s choices, but it must be a moment of national harmony.”, he adds. And even if “it’s a lot of money, it could be absorbed in several installments and it’s still cheaper than the Tour de France, for example.”