“The feelings are very special. It’s very exciting for me,” said Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris Olympics organizing committee, to reporters before the sailing ship left.
The three-masted sailing ship built in the 19th century is scheduled to reach Marseille in the south of France on May 8, where around 600 BC. a Greek colony was founded in
T. Estanguet drew attention to, in his words, a wonderful coincidence that “Belem” started swimming a few weeks after the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896.
In the presence of dozens of spectators, the Trireme Olympias of the Greek Navy and 25 sailboats were escorted out of the port of Belem.
“We came here so that our children understand that the Olympic ideal was born in Greece,” said Giorgos Kontopoulos, who came with his two children.
On Friday, Greece solemnly handed over the 2024 Olympic torch to T. Estanguet.
Two French champions, figure skater Gabriela Papadakis, who won a gold medal in Beijing in 2022, and one of the most successful Paralympians in history, former swimmer Beatrice Hess, carried the Olympic torch on the last stage of the Greek route to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. “.
At night, the Olympic torch was kept at the French embassy in the Greek capital.
