Your chance to be a torchbearer for the Paris 2024 Olympics

Do you fancy being one of the torchbearers for the Paris 2024 Olympics? If so, applications are now open via several different routes.

The organisers of next year’s Olympic Games – from July 26 to August 11, 2024 – are looking to recruit 10,000 people to do 200m stretches as the torch makes its way around every region of France starting in Marseille on May 8, 2024.

On that date, the torch will arrive by sailing ship from Greece, where it will have been lit in a ceremony at Olympia, the home of the ancient Olympic Games.

The precise route and dates of the stages will be unveiled on June 23, however, in the meantime you can put yourself – or a friend or family member – forward, even if you turn out not to live in an actual department that the torch will be going through.

The rules require you to be aged 15 or more, with your ‘domicile’ in France, and not an elected politician or religious leader. Organisers are looking especially for people representing one of three values, either:

• Involvement in sport of some kind, including amateur clubs
• People who give their time for the community, such as by volunteering
• People who represent ‘French excellence’ in their territories, such as entrepreneurs or craftspeople

It is not necessary to be fit to be one of the bearers as the stages will be only around 200m each, at a steady pace of about 4km/h. The organisers say they are looking for plenty of diversity among the participants, including people of all ages and people with disabilities. No doctor’s certificate will be required.

Whether nominating yourself or another person, you will have to enter some personal details and explain briefly why you, or your nominee, deserve the role.

To nominate someone else

You can do this via the website of the Paris Olympics until June 30 at this link. You must first become a ‘Club Paris 2024’ member by creating a free account (click here, on ‘I register’).

To nominate yourself

You can do this via three partners of the games:

Visit this website to apply via the Caisse d’Epargne bank until September 30;

Visit this site to apply via the Banque Populaire until September 30;

Finally, from July 17, Coca Cola France will be running an advertising campaign to explain how you can apply via it.

Some bearers will also be recruited directly through bodies including sports federations, the city of Paris and councils in the Ile-de-France region.

Winners will be announced in January, 2024.

There will be another selection process later this year for 1,000 bearers for the Paralympic Games, which will be held from August 28 to September 8.

The torch for this will be lit in Stoke Mandeville in England, deemed the birthplace of these games, before it crosses the Channel to head to Paris.

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