The sacred flame for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was lit on Tuesday in Olympia, Greece, the birthplace of the ancient Games, in a ceremony inspired by antiquity and marked by messages of hope amid multiple global crises.
"In ancient times, the Olympic Games brought together the Greek city-states, even - and especially - in times of war and conflict," said Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
"Today, the Olympic Games are the only event that brings the whole world together in peaceful competition. Then as now, the Olympic athletes send a powerful message: yes, it is possible to compete fiercely against each other and at the same time live together peacefully under one roof," he added.
Because of cloudy weather, Greek actresses dressed as ancient priestesses used a flame lit in a rehearsal on Monday at the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, near the stadium where the Olympics were born in 776 BC.
Carrying the flame in a pot, Greek actress Mary Mina lit the torch for the first bearer, 2020 Olympic rowing champion Stefanos Ntouskos. Retired French swimmer Laure Manaudou, who won her first gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, followed as France's first Olympic torchbearer.
Officials insisted on Tuesday that the Paris Games will set new milestones, following in the footsteps of the two previous Olympics held in the French capital. "The Olympic Flame will shine over the first Olympic Games inspired from start to finish by the reforms of our Olympic Agenda," Bach insisted.
"These Olympic Games will be younger, more inclusive, more urban and more sustainable. They will be the first ever Olympic Games with full gender parity because the IOC has allocated exactly 50 percent of the places to female and male athletes," he stressed.
The President of the Paris Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, also saw the forthcoming Games as "more than ever a force of inspiration (...) for all of us and for future generations".
For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic forced toned-down events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Beijing 2022 Winter Games, the ceremony returned to full regalia and a large crowd.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo were among those in attendance. American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sang the Olympic anthem.
The torch dates back to the ancient Olympics, when a sacred flame burned throughout the Games, a tradition that was revived for the 1936 Games in Berlin. During the 11-day relay on Greek soil, some 600 torchbearers will carry the flame over a distance of 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) through 41 municipalities.
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