Florent Manaudou, France’s Olympic men’s 50 meters freestyle champion from London 2012, former World Record holder, and Marseilles native, ushered the Olympic Flame ashore onto French soil.
The 33-year-old disembarked from a historic three-masted ship that had left Greece to sail the Mediterranean Sea, carrying the flame lit in Ancient Olympia 11 days before that.
Above, the French Air Force traced the five Olympic rings above as fireworks shot off into the sky, descending in plumes of red, white and blue — the colours of the French flag as Manaudou reached land.
A member of the Cercle des nageurs de Marseille, Manaudou symbolically passed the baton to Nantenin Keita, Paralympic champion and four-time medallist in the 100m, 200m and 400m athletics events.
French President Emmanuel Macron basked in the joyous atmosphere as Florent Manaudou handed the torch off to the French Paralympic sprinter before the flame was passed to Jul, a popular Marseille rapper, who lit the Olympic cauldron. The crowd of 200,000-plus in attendance went wild.
“We needed a powerful symbol, a strong symbol that somehow showed the radiant face of France,” said Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris Olympic Committee, “Marseille is a city of sport, passion, and festivities.”
Added Estanguet: "I wanted the Flame to be welcomed to Marseille by emblematic personalities who embody what we are going to honour and celebrate through the Relay," before then adding that Florent Manaudou was "an iconic athlete of his generation."
There's 79 days to go until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games officially get underway in the French capital.
The torch relay will end with the Olympic cauldron being lit after the Games’ opening ceremony that will take place on the River Seine on July 26. Where exactly the cauldron will be lit at a location in Paris is something being kept top-secret until the day itself.
The anticipation builds.