Paris 2024 Olympic flame handover ceremony: Everything you need to know and how to watch live

By William Imbo
2 min|
olympic-flame-handover-ceremony
Picture by AFP or licensors

This Friday (26 April), the Olympic flame for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 will be officially handed over to a delegation from the Paris 2024 Organising Committee during a symbolic ceremony in Athens, Greece.

Below you'll find everything you need to know about the event and details on the next stage of the flame's journey.

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What is the Olympic flame handover ceremony?

The Olympic flame handover ceremony is just what it sounds like! In a ceremony held at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens (the site where the modern Olympics were first opened in 1896), the Olympic flame is passed to a delegation representing the country that will host the Games—for 2024, this is of course France.

This ceremony marks the end of the 11-day Olympic Torch Relay through Greece, which began on 16 April as the flame for Paris 2024 was lit in a ceremony at the archaeological site of Olympia: the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games.

After the flame enters the stadium, the last torchbearer (Tokyo 2020 water polo silver medallist Ioannis Fountoulis) will light a cauldron, from which the "high priestess" will light a final torch and pass it to the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Mr. Spyros Capralos, who in turn hands it to the Organising Committee of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This gesture marks the culmination of the 11-day relay across Greece, and at the same time the beginning of the countdown to the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on 26 July, 2024.

Picture by IOC

When and where is the Olympic flame handover ceremony?

The handover ceremony will take place at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Greece, on Friday 26 April.

The event is scheduled to start at 17:30 CET.

Where can I watch the Olympic flame handover ceremony?

You can watch every moment of the ceremony live on Olympics.com.

What's next?

Following the handover, the flame will spend the night at the French Embassy in Athens, before boarding the three-masted ship Belem the following day to head for Marseille, France, where it will arrive on 8 May.

The flame will then travel across France and visit overseas departments and regions of France (including New Caledonia and French Polynesia) before arriving in Paris for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games on 26 July!