What if the Olympic flame passed through Libourne, Langon or Lesparre-Médoc in 2024? This could soon be a reality since the department announces, Tuesday February 22, that it has given its green light for the passage of this flame highly symbolic, whose tour of France is scheduled from April 2024, three months before the Paris Olympics. If this application is accepted, Girondin torchbearers will thus be mobilized to show the flame on the roads of the department, members of clubs or sports associations could be solicited.
A dozen departments say no
A positive response as more and more departments speak out against the passage of this flame on their territory, such as Creuse, Haute-Vienne or Lot-et-Garonne. They highlight the cost: 150,000 euros excluding tax, or approximately 180,000 euros, entirely at the expense of the departments. The Gironde, despite its positive response, will still send a letter to the Paris 2024 organizing committee to express its incomprehension as to these identical costs for all departments, regardless of their size.
Now remains to be defined the exact route of this Olympic flame in Gironde. It is the department which must propose it to the committee, while finding torchbearers. They will be 12,000 throughout France, the flame should cross 700 towns in the country and stop in 70 of them.