Paris 2024 reveals the design of the Paralympic and Olympic Torch

The Paris 2024 Organising Committee has revealed the designs of the torch of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on Tuesday, 25 July. The torch, characterised by its champaigne colour, was designed by Mathieu Lehanneur, who drew inspiration from three Paris 2024 symbols: Equality, Water and Peacefulness. 

The torch will be carried by 1,000 people ahead of the Paralympic Games, which will take place between 28 August and 8 September 2024. The same torch will be used in the Olympic Torch Relay, which will start on 8 May 2024.  

An iconic object of the Games, the Torch embodies the identity of each edition through its shape, colour and inspirations. It is an art piece in its own right. Because the Flame will be reaching French people throughout the country and across the seas and the oceans, the Torch had to reflect the image of the Paris 2024 Games. To create it, Paris 2024 chose to work with French designer Lehanneur.    

“Designing the Torch for the Games is a designer’s dream, one that comes around once in a lifetime, like an extraordinary encounter with history,” the designer said. “Ritualistic and magical in equal measure, the Torch is a mythical object. A symbol of cohesion and sharing, it really does play a key role in the Games. 

“It will travel thousands of kilometres, passed from person to person, on land and sea. For Paris 2024, and for the first time in its history, it plays on perfect symmetry, speaking to us more clearly about equality. I wanted it to be extremely pure, iconic, almost elemental.” 

Unique and radiant Torch

The Paris 2024 Torch is distinguished first and foremost by its colour, which is both unique and radiant. To reflect the forthcoming Games, Lehanneur drew inspiration from three themes of Paris 2024: Equality, Water and Peacefulness.

Equality

From the bid through to the organising of the Games today, equality is a driving force behind the Paris 2024 project. Following on from the emblem and the mascots, the Paralympic and Olympic Games will share the same Torch design.  

To reflect this ambition, the design of the Torch is perfectly symmetrical, both horizontally and vertically, to symbolise this equality.  

Water 

Water will occupy a special place in the Paris 2024 Games. Arriving via the Mediterranean Sea aboard the Belem, the Torch will take the Olympic Flame across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans in the “Relais des Océans”, to reach 5 overseas territories: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, French Polynesia and Réunion.  

Water is also at the heart of Paris as no one can imagine the capital without the Seine and Paris 2024 could not organise the Games without the river playing a pivotal role. 

Water has inspired the wave, 3D and vibration effects on the Torch, which reproduce the ripples and movements of water, in addition to the reflections of light on its surface.  

Peacefulness 

The Paralympic and Olympic Games have always been a symbol of peace. 

Reflecting this desire for peace, the Torch, with its curves and rounded lines, is suffused with gentleness. Pure in form, almost elemental, the design of the Torch conveys generosity and solidarity. 

A total of 2,000 torches will be produced by world steel leader ArcelorMittal, Official Partner of the Games, to create these unforgettable objects of the Paris 2024 Games.