As preparations enter final stages for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, French officials have turned to the birthplace of the games, Ancient Olympia, for symbolic reasons.
Representatives of France’s Terre de Jeux 2024 have collected a small amount of soil from ongoing excavations near the eastern portico of the Ancient Gymnasium in Ancient Olympia.
The location of the soil was very important and symbolic as the Gymnasium served the needs of the athletes and their companions during the period of the Olympic Games since the preparations of the athletes took place in the Gymnasiums of Elis.
The collection of soil was led by Emilie Gomis, a basketball player who won silver with the French team in the 2012 Olympic Games.
For the purposes of a documentary, the collection of over two thousand grams of soil to transport back to Paris was filmed.
According to tradition, the Olympic Flame will be lit in Ancient Olympia and transported to France by boat.
President of the Olympic Torch Relay Committee of the EOE, Thanasis Vassiliadis, accompanied the French delegation and answered all questions regarding the Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony.
Source: Greek Reporter
