The Olympic torch will finally enter France when it reaches the southern seaport of Marseille on Wednesday. And it’s already been quite a journey. After being lit by the sun’s rays on April 16 in Ancient Olympia, the torch was carried around Greece before leaving Athens aboard a three-mast ship named Belem, headed for Marseille. The Belem was first used in 1896, the same year the modern Olympics came back. It will be accompanied by more than 1,000 boats as it parades around the Bay of Marseille, before arriving at the Vieux-Port, or Old Port, and docking on a pontoon resembling an athletics tracks. Torch bearers will carry the flame across Marseille the next day, the last stretch running on the roof of the famed Stade Vélodrome, home to Marseille’s passionate soccer fans. After leaving Marseille, a vast relay route will be undertaken before the torch odyssey ends on July 27 in Paris. |
Laura Woods wows in a black figureStudents resume proSweden should spend more on defense and increase the number of conscripts, lawmakers recommendDua Lipa looks smitten with boyfriend Callum Turner as they arrive to dinner in NYC holding handsA look at past and future cases Harvey Weinstein has faced as his New York conviction is thrown outMusic Review: St. Vincent's artMarta says this will be her final year with Brazil's women's national teamBecky G dazzles in abScotland's underParis crowns a new king of the crusty baguette in its annual bread