(Le Mont-Saint-Michel) The Olympic flame passed Friday at Mont-Saint-Michel, a jewel of French heritage, with astronaut Thomas Pesquet as bearer, arousing great popular enthusiasm.
“It’s like a sporting event, it’s like taking off into space, it’s something that we imagine, that we wait for, and then finally it arrives, everything goes well, there is a great atmosphere, a great atmosphere around us,” Thomas Pesquet told AFP, after his relay on the ramparts of the famous Norman abbey.
“There are a lot of positive vibes and then we go to meet people, that’s what’s important, that the Olympic Games are not something that happens in Paris and that doesn’t happen. only concerns athletes,” he added.
“He represents France well, not just anyone goes into space, it’s nice that he carried the flame,” enthuses Stéphane Tesgrippes, a Norman in his fifties.
Along the route, Nicolas Lucas, a spectator carrying his young boy on his shoulders, marvels at this “rare event”, hoping to see the famous astronaut. “It doesn’t happen every day. The Olympics, yes I’m interested, I’ll watch. Everything is very well organized here,” he continues.
During this 21e stage, the flame traveled through several Normandy sites, including Sainte-Mère-Église, the historic town of the Landings of June 1944, where an American paratrooper remained hanging on the bell tower.
The torch arrived at the end of the afternoon at Mont-Saint-Michel, climbing relay after relay, the steep streets of the building. It notably passed through the cloister of the abbey before reaching the celebration site.
There, Roger Lebranchu, 101 years old, former Olympic rowing athlete who participated in the 1948 London Olympic team games, survivor of the Buchenwald camp, lit the cauldron.
Mr. Lebranchu expressed his “immense pride”. “It’s a great honor. I bring peace. I didn’t expect all these people,” said the centenarian, whose jacket bore the crest of the 1948 Olympics.