Eiffel Tower, République, Insep… what to remember from the passage of the flame in Paris

For its second day in the capital, the Olympic flame visited several symbolic places. Starting from Porte de la Chapelle, it reached Place de la République, passing in particular by INSEP and the Eiffel Tower.

Parisians were there this Monday for the passage of the Olympic flame. After the Trocadéro, Roland-Garros, the Moulin Rouge and the Champs-Elysées, the flame continued its journey through Paris this Monday afternoon. At 4 p.m., the flame passed Place d’Italie before reaching the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, in the 19th arrondissement. The crowd was large in the fifth largest green space in the capital, where a giant picnic was organized a little earlier.

At Buttes Chaumont, the flame made a detour on the bridge leading to Belvédère Island, relayed by the boxer Souleymane Cissokho, bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics in 2016.Lots of emotions, I’m really living a unique moment. Before carrying the flame I almost had tears in my eyes“, he confided to the microphone of Franceinfo.

The flame then headed to the 13th arrondissement, where it left from the town hall. It passed Boulevard Auriol, before joining Avenue Pierre-Mendès France and crossing the Charles de Gaulle bridge, next to the Gare d’Austerlitz. The flame arrived at Quai de la Rapée.

With just eleven days to go before the start of the Games, the flame then made a stop at INSEP, which has become the base camp for the French Olympic and Paralympic delegation. In the 12th arrondissement, Jean-François Lamour, a former minister and fencer, handed the flame over to INSEP CEO Fabien Canu before passing it into the hands of several athletes.

This stage at Insep ended in the Marie-José Perec athletics stadium, carried by Samir Aït Saïd, gymnast and flag bearer at the Tokyo Games. This is where Tony Estanguet, Jackson Richardson, Marie-José Perec, Laura Flessel, Michaël Jeremiasz, Béatrice Hess, Christine Caron and David Douillet successively passed the torch to applause. During the official photo, the torchbearers sang the Marseillaise in unison.

Towards the Iron Lady

The flame then headed towards the 20th arrondissement towards the Boulevard des Maréchaux, passing by the Place de la Bastille and the Place Gambetta. Among the flame bearers was the boxer and writer Aya Cissoko.

Around 7:30 p.m., the Olympic flame returned to the Eiffel Tower, held aloft by pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie from the first floor of the Iron Lady. The chef of the Jules Verne restaurant then climbed the steps to the second floor. It was there that double gold medalist judoka Clarisse Agbegnenou held the flame aloft from the top of the tower.

Around 8pm, the Olympic flame began its final sprint, passing through more popular neighbourhoods such as Belleville. It headed to Place de la République, where 30,000 people were waiting for its arrival and the start of the concert. A moment of emotion and joy for Tiziri and Amine, interviewed on France 3 Paris: “We are very happy to be able to attend a historic event. It is moving to see that people are emerging from the moment of crisis that we have just experienced..”

Handball player Nicola Karabatic was the last torchbearer. He lit the cauldron in front of Tony Estanguet and Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.

The Olympic flame will leave on July 17 for Château-Thierry before returning to Île-de-France on Friday, where it will pass through Cergy and Pontoise.

Watch the flame’s journey live and in its entirety on our dedicated France.tv Paris 2024 channel.