Laura Laplaud / Photo credit: OLI SCARFF / AFP 14:30 pm, June 01, 2023

Are you in the starting blocks? Michel Platini, Mohamed Ali, David Beckham... In recent years, some personalities have had the chance to carry the Olympic flame for a few meters. But strangers also supported him. For the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, 10,000 torchbearers will have this privilege. The first campaign starts this Thursday.

Did you dream of it? The recruitment campaign to apply for the Olympic Torch Relay opens this Thursday. A total of 10,000 torchbearers will take turns - on a stretch of about 200 metres - to celebrate the arrival of the Games in France. Symbol of unity and peace, the flame will be lit in Greece, will make the boat trip to the France before disembarking on May 8, 2024 in Marseille. Crossing the regions for more than two months, it will spread the spirit of the Games as it passes and mark the beginning of the celebrations.

Who can apply and how?

For this first phase of the bid, which begins this Thursday and will end on 30 June, you can nominate the loved one you wish to see carry the Olympic flame by visiting the dedicated website of the Olympic Games (JO). To submit your application, you can go to the website of its partners, the Banque Populaire and the Caisse d'Epargne.

The only conditions are to be at least 15 years old and to nominate someone at least 15 years old, to be a member of the Paris 2024 Club (or to become one by completing your nomination) and to recommend a relative who corresponds to the values of the Olympic Games. Among these values, that of sport and the Games, that of the territories (French know-how), and that of the collective (those who act to build a fairer society). A second recruitment campaign will open on 17 July on the Olympic Games site and Coca-Cola, official sponsor of the torch relay.

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Who will be the 10,000 torchbearers?

At the end of this first campaign, 5,000 contenders will be drawn. The applications will be analyzed by juries spread throughout the territory and the lucky winners will receive an official email confirming their participation at the beginning of 2024. Other recruitment campaigns will be organized by the State, the City of Paris, the Île-de-France region, the Greater Paris metropolis, the Seine-Saint-Denis Department as well as the CNOSF, CPSF, IOC, IPC and sports federations.

The organizers indicate that parity between women and men will be respected as well as the inclusion of people with disabilities as well as the mixing between anonymous and well-known personalities. In detail, 10,000 people will participate in the Olympic Torch Relay and 1,000 in the Paralympic Torch Relay (a recruitment campaign that will begin in a second phase).