Paris 2024 reveals all-new team relays for the upcoming Games
Relay teams of 24 people will carry the torch during the Olympic Torch Relay and Paralympic Torch Relay, spreading the energy of sport and teamwork throughout France.
Get ready for Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays like no other!
For the first time, the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays will feature all-new team relays.
Each team of 24 people will be made up of champions, everyday athletes, volunteers, referees, coaches and more, who are members of the 34 Olympic and Paralympic Federations whose sports are on the programme of the Olympic Summer Games, as well as the Tahitian Surfing Federation.
On each day of the Olympic Torch Relay, one or two team relays will be held, showcasing the lives of those who participate in and live for sport.
Read on to discover more about the Olympic Torch Relay team relays and the names of the captains of each of the teams.
Sport at the heart of every team relay
A total of 69 team relays will take place during the Olympic Torch Relay with each relay adding unusual and spectacular touches or raising awareness of Para sport.
For the Paralympic Torch Relay, six team relays will be organised with the support of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, with each one based on themes linked to the Paralympic Movement.
Every team relay will be an unmissable event with the public invited to share in moments of conviviality, emotion and sport, while experiencing the values of sharing and team spirit that are so dear to the world of sport and the Games.
Paris 2024 Torch Relay Team Relays
Unique Olympic Torch Relay team relays promise to surprise and delight
Like the 24 skateboarders who will take to the streets of Bordeaux and Blois, the team relays will surprise the public. The Sisteron rock will become the new playground for the Climbing Federation, the Château de Compiègne park the target for archers from the Archery Federation, and the towns of Troyes and Bagnolet open-air dance floors. The fencing team relay on the Lascaux IV site and the show put on by the golfers at Guyancourt also promise to be surprising.
Each team relay will take place in a spectacular location, such as Mont-Saint-Michel for cycling. Omaha Beach will provide a spectacular backdrop for the equestrian team relay, while Les Sables-d'Olonne and Gruissan will be the setting for the sailing team relay. The surfing team relays look set to be grandiose, with a first team relay in Biarritz on the Basque coast, a second at La Torche in Finistère and a third organised by the Tahitian Surfing Federation on Teahupo’o beach.
Para sport identity showcased through the Paralympic Torch Relay team relays
The six Paralympic Torch Relay team relays will be organised with the support of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee.
The one-of-a-kind team relays will include:
- A “Paralympic movement volunteers” relay, made up of iconic volunteers from the Paralympic federation
- A "Young Para athletes" relay made up of rising stars of the French Paralympic team
- Two "Paralympian" relays to pay tribute to their sporting achievements
- An "Innovative actions" relay, highlighting people and organisations that are proposing and developing innovative actions such as the programmes undertaken or supported by the CPSF (Impact 2024), which supports projects that harness sport to make a social impact
- An "Associations and caregivers" relay made up of people who support those around them who have disabilities and people who work in associations to develop the rights of caregivers
Captains revealed for Paris 2024 Torch Relay team relays
The Paris 2024 organising committee also revealed the names of some of the captains including Guillaume Martin (winner of Mountain classification at Vuelta a España 2021), Manuéla Montebrun (Beijing 2008 bronze medallist in hammer throw), Laura Flessel-Colovic (two-time fencing Olympic champion from Atlanta 1996), Laurent Tillie (coach of the Tokyo 2020 gold medal-winning volleyball team) and Charline Picon (Rio 2016 Olympic champion in windsurfing).
Emilie Le Pennec, the Olympic gold medalist in artistic gymnastics from Athens 2004, will carry the torch in Poitiers in the West of France. “It gives me great pride to participate in the relay and to be a captain alongside great champions and children in Vienne.”
Former swimmer and five-time world champion Camille Lacourt spoke about what it means to him to be a torchbearer.
“Carrying the flame is carrying tolerance. The possibility to go beyond our limits together with respect and kindness. Carrying the flame is carrying hope, sharing and acceptance. Carrying the flame is carrying love. To me, it’s an immense honour.”
Vincent Milou, who is attempting to qualify for the Paris 2024 skateboarding competition after his fourth place at Tokyo 2020 said that this opportunity is satisfying in more than one way.
“I am proud to showcase skateboarding through this great symbol of the Olympics and to share this moment with other torchbearers,” he said.