Planned to arrive on June 17, 2024, in Martinique, the Olympic flame will pass through the island of Martinique for the first time. The athlete chosen by Tony Estanguet, President of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, alongside 10 other athletes from various sports, will be Lucas Duféal, aged 20 and native of Schoelcher. This young man, a true prodigy, is a basketball player for the French U20 team and a European champion. He was a member of the Golden Lion team in Saint-Joseph and has been playing for Cholet Basket for 3 years. He will be the captain of the relay runners for the occasion, and they will succeed each other in a course spread over 9 municipalities of the island, starting from Saint-Pierre and passing by the famous Montagne Pelée in Saint-Pierre.

Olympic Flame Relay: a journey of thousands of kilometers across France

As the final stage of the relay, Martinique will be the very last stop of the ocean relay, which involves traversing a total of 5 overseas territories including French Guiana and Guadeloupe with the flame. But why a relay in these territories? The purpose of this relay is twofold: firstly, to announce the Olympic Games, and secondly, to convey a message of peace and friendship to those who encounter the flame along the way. It will pass through the hands of over 3,000 bearers across France from May 8 to May 26, as well as for the Paralympic Games from August 25 to August 28.

The Sporting Journey of the Olympic Flame

The flame will set off from Brest on June 7 aboard the trimaran "Ultime Banque Populaire XI" to reach Cayenne in French Guiana and meet judoka François Pina. This stage will officially kick off the ocean relay. Subsequently, the flame will head towards Réunion at La Plaine des Sables, starting from June 12, where Elvire Teza (who had already participated in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and the Sydney Olympics in 2000) will be involved. Then, it will be Tahiti's turn in French Polynesia, at Teahupoo, with surfer and coach of the French team for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Hira Teriinatoofa. Guadeloupe will be the next destination with Laura Flessel, a native of the island and a two-time Olympic fencing champion in 1996 and former Minister of Sports. Then it will be Martinique's turn with Lucas Duféal, followed by Alpes-Maritimes, in Nice, where another Martinican basketball player, Nathalie Lesdesma, will continue the relay! On mainland France, Réunionese Nicolas Virapin, the first French athlete with an intellectual disability carrying trisomy 21 to have won a world championship title in 2018, in the 60m, 200m, long jump, and triathlon events at the Virtus Athletics World Championships, has been appointed captain of the Olympic relay in Roanne, in the Loire, to represent the French Federation of Adapted Sports.

Next, it will be the turn of New Caledonian athlete Thierry Washetine, the first French athlete with an intellectual disability to win a world championship title in 2004. It was in the javelin throw event at the 2004 Global Games. He will lead the Olympic relay in Châlons-en-Champagne in the Marne. Finally, in the last cities that bring the Olympic Flame towards Paris, the captain of the Relay selected in Hauts-de-Seine is Pascal Gentil, also of Martinican origin and an iconic figure in Taekwondo. There will be a total of 69 relays of 24 people each. We are now eagerly awaiting the names of the individual flame bearers, which will be revealed on January 15th. Are you looking forward to the 2024 Olympics?