On Sunday, Paris welcomed a special guest for France’s national holiday – the Olympic flame illuminating the capital’s grand military parade for Bastille Day.
Just 12 days before the French capital hosts the 2024 summer Olympic Games, the torch relay gathered thousands of soldiers, sailors, rescuers, and medics marching in Paris beneath the Patrouille de France flyover.
The parade concluded with the arrival of the flame, escorted by horseback riders, 25 torchbearers, and cadets dressed in the five Olympic colours, forming the shapes of the five interlocking Olympic rings.
The first torchbearer, Colonel Thibault Vallette, an equestrian gold medalist from the 2016 Rio Olympics, passed the flame to a group of young athletes.
Traditionally, the parade travels from the Arc de Triomphe to the Concorde plaza, where France’s last king and queen were beheaded.
This year, however, Concorde has been transformed into a large Olympic venue for breakdancing, skateboarding, and BMX, so the parade route shifted to the Bois de Boulogne park on the city’s edge.
Following its Bastille Day appearance, the torch relay will pass by Notre Dame Cathedral, the historic Sorbonne University, and the Louvre Museum before heading to other Paris landmarks on Monday.
