Paris 2024 Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony: Everything you need to know and how to watch live

Modified Apr 16, 2024 12:11 IST

Rehearsal of Lighting Ceremony Of The Olympic Flame

The 2024 Paris Olympics' flame lighting ceremony is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 16. The flame for the upcoming Games will be lit today in Greece, where the inaugural edition of the Summer Olympics took place in 1896.

Once lit, the Olympic flame is brought to the ancient stadium by the Hestiada (the priestess keeper of the fire). The priestess then hands it over to the torchbearer. The torchbearer then passes it over to another torchbearer, who will be from the host country.

So, the first torchbearer will pass on the Olympic flame to the second torchbearer, who will be from France, the nation hosting the 2024 edition of the Olympic games.

The Olympic flame will be carried throughout Greece (the inaugural host nation) across 11 days. Over 550 torchbearers will carry the Olympic flame during the 11-day relay in the country.

When is the Olympic Flame handover ceremony?

The Olympic flame handover ceremony will take place at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on Friday, April 26. The handover ceremony will commence at 17:30 CEST (9:00 pm IST).

Following the handover ceremony, the flame will be taken to the French Embassy in Athens for the night. The next day, the Olympic flame will board the Belem (a famous three-masted ship that first launched in 1896) and will arrive in Marseille on May 8.

Paris 2024 Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony: How to watch live?

The Paris 2024 Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony can be watched live on Olympics.com. The event is scheduled for April 16 at 10:30 CEST (2:00 pm IST). The live coverage of the ceremony will commence at 10:15 CEST (1:45 pm IST).

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About the author

Farzan is a journalist at Sportskeeda covering the Indian sports section. He has a previous experience of 4 years working for some top names like CricTracker, Chennaiyin FC, Rajasthan Royals, and more.

Farzan is a well-known name in the industry and has exclusively covered various major sporting events like the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2022 Commonwealth Games, 2023 Asian Games, 2023 Squash World Cup, 2023 Indian Premier League, 2023-24 Pro Kabaddi League, etc. He has also had the privilege of interviewing some famous sports personalities like Indian Table Tennis star Manika Batra, Indian gymnast Pranati Nayak, British American Volleyball player Ciara Michel, FC Goa defender Adil Khan, Malaysian Squash player Darren Pragasam, multiple hockey players from India, Japan, New Zealand and Chile, and several others.

His favorite Indian sports athlete is Neeraj Chopra and admires him for his calm, composed, and friendly demeanor. Chopra winning the gold medal for India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the javelin throw event is a moment that Farzan cherishes a lot.

To ensure the best content for his readers, Farzan believes in honest and unbiased writing, thorough research, proofreading, being ethical and to the point. In his free time, he likes to play games on his Playstation, read books, and travel with family and friends.

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Edited by Vaishnavi Iyer