Paris 2024: Paralympic Torch arrives in France
One day after the Paralympic Flame was lit in Stoke Mandeville, the Torch travelled through the Channel Tunnel on its way to a 12-city tour 25 Aug 2024
The Paralympic Torch has arrived in France, ahead of the start of the Paris 2024 Paralympics. One day after the lighting ceremony in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, the torch made its way through the Channel Tunnel, getting the ball rolling on a new fortnight of celebration across France.
A fraternal torch kiss under the English Channel
The Paralympic Torch set out from the English port town of Folkestone and dipped into the Channel Tunnel escorted by a guard of honour featuring 24 British torchbearers.
Hélène Raynsford and Gregor Ewan, who had lit the flame in Stoke Mandeville the day before, passed the torch to the captain of this team relay, Andrew Small, a Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion. Joining him on this undersea leg were the Para judoka Ian Rose and the Para canoeist Ian Marsden.
Twenty-four French torchbearers met their British counterparts under the sea half way between France and England. Among them were Laura Mills, a great-granddaughter of Sir Ludwig Guttmann, the founder of the Paralympic Movement and the inaugural Paralympic Games, and Ludivine Munos, a 12-time medallist in Para swimming.
At the famed "Mid Point", the French team relay captain, Emmanuelle Assmann, a bronze medallist in wheelchair fencing at Athens 2004, extracted the torch from its bespoke Louis Vuitton case for a torch kiss, representing the ties of friendship that bind the two countries.
The 24 French relay runners resumed their journey towards French shores, where Tony Estanguet, the President of Paris 2024, and Marie-Amélie Le Fur, the President of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, stood ready to witness their historic arrival. Upon emerging from the tunnel in Calais, the flame split into 12 torches, spreading to the far corners of France to bring its magic to the French masses.
The spirit of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games now illuminates France thanks to these 12 torches. In Pas-de-Calais, the department where the torch first touched French soil, the relay blazed through the streets of Calais. Other torches lit up the heart of Valenciennes in Nord and the architectural heritage of Rouen in Seine-Maritime.
Further south, the torch hugged the Mediterranean coast in Antibes Juan-les-Pins, in Alpes-Maritimes, as well as Place de la Comédie in Montpellier and the pilgrimage town of Lourdes, in Hautes-Pyrénées. In the west, the torches energised Place Napoléon in La-Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, the harbour of Lorient in Morbihan and the shores of Saint-Malo in Ille-et-Vilaine.
Finally, in the east, Amnéville Zoo in Moselle, the Council of Europe of Strasbourg, in the European Collectivity of Alsace, and the shores of Lake Geneva in Thonon-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, all basked in the Paralympic glow.
Towns and cities celebrated the arrival of the Torch with a host of activities and Para sport taster sessions organised by local authorities and the French Paralympic Committee alongside the relay. The highlight of the day came when the crowds cheered as the final runner ignited the cauldron in a jubilant atmosphere.
Inspiring torchbearers and champions across the country
The inaugural day of the relay saw more than 360 Paralympic torchbearers traverse France. Among them were iconic Para swimmers such as Béatrice Hess (26 Paralympic medals) in Strasbourg, Raphaël Dutay (a multiple-time European champion and 2017 champion) in Antibes Juan-les-Pins, and Charles Rozoy (a London 2012 Paralympic bronze medallist) in Saint-Malo.
Olympic athletes also joined the relay, with the basketball player Romane Bernies, fresh from her silver medal win at the Paris 2024 Olympics, lighting the cauldron in Montpellier. The snowboarder Paul Henri Le Rue (a Turin 2006 bronze medallist) carried the torch in Lourdes, where the FC Lourdes footballer Johana Vahe ignited the cauldron at the end of the day.
Other Para sport disciplines shone through today's torchbearers. Para athletics was represented by champions such as Heinrich Popow (seven Paralympic titles) and Michel Munsch (a four-time French champion), who lit the cauldron in Amnéville.
The Para table tennis stars Olivier Chateigner (a Sydney 2000 gold medallist and Athens 2004 silver medallist) and Edgar Empis ignited the cauldrons in La-Roche-sur-Yon and Rouen, respectively. Para equestrianism was also on the map, with Marie-Sarah Barre-Ruellan carrying the Torch.
The Para sailing champion Damien Seguin received a rapturous reception in his home town of Lorient, which throws its weight behind sports inclusion. As the day drew to a close, Sylvain Malard, a former goalkeeper for the French national powerchair football team, lit the cauldron in Parc Jules Ferry.
The boccia champion Dorian Decarme in Calais, the marathoner Roselyne Leleu in Valenciennes, the SC Schiltigheim blind football player Lireille Loeffler in Strasbourg, the Para skier Denis Bardet in Thonon-les-Bains, and the president of the organisation Sport Adapté de la Côte d'Emeraude in Saint-Malo also lit the fire in their relay cities.
Monday promises to be every bit as thrilling as each torch continues its journey through 14 new towns and cities. A perfect opportunity for more people in France to experience the excitement of the relay and the magic of the Paralympic Games!
