The day before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games begin, the Olympic Torch Relay, sponsored by Coca-Cola, Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne, paid a visit to Seine-Saint-Denis. The area is resolutely sport orientated, fully committed to the Paris 2024 project and is preparing to host several Olympic and Paralympic events. From Noisy-le-Grand to Parc Georges Valbon, more than 200 torchbearers took it in tuns to carry the Olympic Torch on 25th July and ramp up the atmosphere as the Games approach! In Bagnolet, a dance collective relay got the crowds moving and in Aubervilliers boxing enjoyed pride of place. In La Courneuve, Sarah Ourahmoune, a French boxer with an unrivalled record, passed on the Olympic Torch to Lilian Thuram, a former star of the French football team, for a legendary ‘torch kiss’. Thuram then lit the cauldron at the celebration venue in Parc Georges Valbon, La Courneuve. To close the stage on a high note, for a quite simply exceptional moment, two emblematic torchbearers will ascend to the roof of the Stade de France: Muriel Hurtis, an Olympic bronze medallist in the 4 x 100 relay in 2004, and Abdelatif Benazzi, a former captain of the French rugby team. A concert organised by Coca-Cola, one of the sponsors of the Olympic Torch Relay, will light up the evening for the inhabitants of La Courneuve with Gazo and Adèle Castillon in the headlining spots!
Diversity and sport in Seine-Saint-Denis
Not only is Seine-Saint-Denis the ‘youngest’ administrative department in France, but it is also the most multi-cultural with almost 130 nationalities. It is a driving force in the arts, culture, sports, social projects and solidarity. Its exceptional heritage is made up of 75 historical monuments as well as industrial and urban resources.
Seine-Saint-Denis is also a sporty area, as the rest of the world will discover throughout the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, when it hosts events for ten sports including four Paralympic disciplines. They will be spread out over the Olympic aquatic centre (for artistic swimming, diving and water polo), the Stade de France (athletics, para-athletics and rugby sevens), the climbing site at Le Bourget, the Arena Paris Nord (boxing, modern pentathlon, sitting volleyball), Parc Georges Valbon (para-marathon) and Clichy-sous-Bois (para-cycling).
The day before the launch of the Paris 2024 Games, the Olympic Torch relay endeavoured to promote the assets and initiatives that are the pride of Seine-Saint-Denis, all throughout Thursday 25th July. It began in Noisy-le-Grand, with a visit to the Arènes de Picasso complex and to Neuilly-sur-Marne, particularly in front of the Sainte-Baudile church. The Olympic Torch Relay crossed through Tremblay-en-France and its 70 hectares of woods, Parc des Beaumonts in Montreuil and Parc Jean-Moulin-Les Guilands in Bagnolet, before following the Canal de l’Ourcq from Sevran to Bobigny. It then moved on to Romainville, with its tower and national dance centre, Aubervilliers, the town centre of La Courneuve and then the Holocaust Memorial in Drancy, an essential place for mediation, transmission and remembrance. The Olympic Torch Relay then continued its route to Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, home of the national archives, to Stains, where it made its way past the Grand Mosque, and then to Parc Georges Valbon, where the celebration venue was installed.
A collective relay by the French Federation of Dance in Bagnolet
Several hours earlier on Place Salvador Allende in Bagnolet, 24 torchbearers celebrated dance as part of a collective relay. Together, they recounted the development of hip-hop and breakdance culture over the last 40 years, from 1984 to 2024. With 4 performances depicting 4 decades one after another, the young generations handed the Olympic Torch over to the older generations, in a fitting tribute to this heritage. The collective relay’s captain, Pascal-Blaise Ondzie, is an emblematic figure of the hip-hop movement, creator of a breakdance movement and co-creator of the pioneering French breakdance collective Aktuel Force. Today, he is an international breakdance judge and endeavours to pass on the culture of the hip-hop movement to the younger generations.
Other major names of breakdance were present alongside him, such as Enrique Estevez, who won the competition on the famous HIP HOP programme in 1984 which made a major contribution to popularising this culture in France, and Massamba Djibalene, world champion in the News Style category in 2005. Lucile Morice, who has danced with artists like Kery James or Alonzo, and Noémya Desmortreux, who joined the Moustico Studio school at the age of 5 years old, were also in the cortege.
An open-air boxing ring in Aubervilliers
A second collective relay, organised by the French Federation of boxing, took place in Aubervilliers near to the Boxing Beat, a club were a large number of boxers on the French women’s team learned the ropes, including Sarah Ourahmoune. It is run by renowned coach Saïd Bennajem, who took part in the Barcelona Games and who was captain of this collective relay.
He was accompanied by enthusiasts of the discipline such as Christophe Beaurain, who boxed his way off the streets to become an international referee today. Nadia Lenoury, the flag-bearer for the boxers in the French delegation at the Tokyo Games, and Léa Macabiau Valeze, the chairwoman of a boxing club, were also present for this collective relay.
More than 200 torchbearers ramp up the atmosphere as the Games approach!
All through the day, more than 200 torchbearers took it in turns to illuminate Seine-Saint-Denis, among whom were champions renowned in their disciplines, such as Cumba Diallo, a French women’s rugby team member,Antoinette Nana Djimou, two times European heptathlon champion, Jean-Marc Mormeck, a six times boxing world champion, Yvan Wouandji, a silver medallist in blind football at the London Paralympic Games, Diandra Tchatchouang, a bronze medallist at the Tokyo Games with the French women’s basketball team and Gwladys Epangue, a taekwondo athlete who won a bronze medal at the Beijing Games in 2008. The day’s last relay was carried out by two emblematic figures in French sport: boxer SarahOurahmoune, a silver medallist at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, world champion in 2008, triple European Union champion and ten times French champion, passed on the Olympic Torch to Lilian Thuram, the former defender for the French men’s footbal team, famous for his 142 caps and crucial contributions to the triumphs at the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championship in 2000. He had the honour of lighting the cauldron at the celebration venue located in Parc Georges Valbon.
Alongside these sportspeople, celebrities popular with the French population also carried the Olympic Torch. The spectators were able to cheer on director Alice Diop, who won many awards for her film Saint-Omer (including the César award for the best debut film), Sabrina Ouazani, an actor and director, violinist Benjamin Ducasse and rap star Gazo, who will be giving a concert later in the evening.
As on each day, many members of the general public also took part in the celebrations! The day’s first torchbearer, Nathalie Dagnet, runs an association that allows people with mental disabilities to learn how to swim. There was also Lynda Fekiri, a brave mother of three children including a teenage girl with autistic disorder, and Rachelle Hurier, who launched the “Women’s Camp” to help women from working-class areas to empower themselves. A similar commitment is what drives Cyril Wacouboue who encourages participation in sport for all by taking young people from underprivileged areas under his wing, and Stéphane Jaffre, a football coach for children aged 6 to 7 years.
A unique concert to round off this unforgettable day to the sound of music
Following the lighting of the cauldron, the celebrations are continuing this evening: Coca-Cola, an official sponsor of the Olympic Torch Relay, is organising its fifth concert since the beginning of this journey through France. After Soprano and Alonzo in Marseille, Lujipeka and Chilla in Rennes, Bianca Costa and Santa in Saint-Etienne, Jain, Ofenbach and Mentissa in Paris, this evening’s event will bring together Adèle Castillon and Gazo. The two artists had the honour of carrying the Olympic Torch: Gazo in La Courneuve and Adèle Castillon yesterday in La Garenne-Colombes.
A special event on the roof of the Stade de France to end the day on a high note!
Following the Paris 2024 Olympic Games rugby sevens quarter finals, an exceptional relay will take place at night on the roof of the Stade de France with two emblematic torchbearers: 4 x 100 metres relay world champion (in 2003) and Olympic bronze medallist in Athens (in 2004) Muriel Hurtis and former French rugby captain and vice-chairman of the federation Abdelatif Benazzi will brandish the Paris 2024 Olympic Torch on the roof of the Stade de France in front of a breathtaking view over Seine-Saint-Denis!
This was the last day of the Olympic Torch Relay before the big day. On Friday, the Olympic Torch Relay will enter the final straight! Its last stage will take the Olympic Torch from Saint-Denis to Paris to the lighting of the cauldron at the opening ceremony which will mark the launch of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
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