The torch that will be used in the Paris Olympic and Paralympic relays was unveiled on the eve of the one-year-out date for the 2024 Olympics.
Designer Mathieu Lehanneur, production partner ArcelorMittal and Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet presented the torch from the organizing committee’s headquarters on Tuesday.
The torch is 2 feet, 3.56 inches tall, weighs 3.3 pounds, has a minimum diameter of 1.37 inches and a maximum diameter of 3.94 inches. It is made out of ArcelorMittal XCarb steel from recycled and renewable sources and is fueled by biopropane.
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Lehanneur said he drew inspiration from three Paris Olympic symbols when creating the champagne-colored torch: equality, water and peacefulness.
“Equality is symbolized by perfect symmetry,” Lehanneur said. “Water is symbolized by the wave, relief and vibration effects. Peacefulness is symbolized by the gentleness of the curves.”
In accordance with tradition, the torch will be lit by the rays of the sun in Olympia, Greece, next spring before arriving in France. The Olympic torch relay will begin in Marseille on May 8, 2024, and will traverse the country before lighting the Olympic cauldron at the Opening Ceremony on July 26, 2024.
The Olympic cauldron will go out at the Closing Ceremony, but the torch will continue on. It will light in Stoke Mandeville, England, the symbolic home of the Paralympic Games, and begin a new relay heading into the Paralympic Opening Ceremony on Aug. 28, 2024.
“This object embodies every edition of the Games,” Estanguet said. “When we look back at history, every torch is more beautiful than the others, each one with its own uniqueness. Every country tries to showcase its creativity and we can see that. It’s an aesthetic object that says something.”
In all, 11,000 people — 10,000 for the Olympics and 1,000 for the Paralympics — will carry 2,000 torches. In past Games, there was a torch for each torchbearer.
