Olympic Flame

Fotini Papaleonidopoulou was 10 years old when her face became one of the symbols of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

Joyful crowds gathered along the streets of France's southern port of Marseille on Thursday to see torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame through the city's most emblematic sites, a day after it arrived on a majestic three-mast ship for a welcoming ceremony.

The Olympic torch relay began in Marseille on Thursday with football legend Basile Boli taking the flame in front of the iconic basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde, a day after it made a spectacular entrance by sea.

The Olympic flame reached Marseille, just outside the Old Port, amid tight security on Wednesday, 79 days before the Paris 2024 Games Opening Ceremony.

"Marseille is the ideal spot to create memories."

Florent Manaudou, France's 2012 Olympic men's 50 metres freestyle swimming champion, will light the cauldron shortly after 1730 GMT in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron.

The Olympic torch will finally enter France when it reaches the southern seaport of Marseille on Wednesday. And it's already been quite a journey.

After being lit by the sun's rays on April 16 in Ancient Olympia, the torch was carried around Greece before leaving Athens aboard a three-mast ship named Belem, headed for Marseille.

Belem, the three-masted sailing ship carrying the Olympic flame to France, is being towed through the Corinth canal in Corinth, Sunday. The French sailing ship sailed from the port of Piraeus Saturday, a day after the handover ceremony from the Greek Olympic Committee to the Summer Olympics organizers, and will arrive at Marseille, France, on May 8. [Michael Varaklas/AP]

Relay runners are now carrying the Olympic Torch to Paris. With the 2024 Olympics fast approaching, debate is again heating up about how much countries spend on national Olympic teams. My own country - Australia - has spent a mind-boggling 800 million euros on getting our elite sportspeople to Paris.

The Paris 2024 Olympic flame sailed for France on Saturday on board a three-masted ship to mark the final sprint of preparations ahead of the Olympic Games opening ceremony on July 26.

The "Belem" left the port of Piraeus in the morning for an 11-day voyage and will arrive in the southern city of Marseille, founded by the Greek settlers of Phocaea around 600 BC, on May 8.

Nikos Aliyagas as presenter - The Olympic Flame brought to the Panathenaic Stadium by the champion of walking Antigoni Drisbioti - Last Torchbearer, the captain of the National Polo Team Yannis Fountoulis, with his teammates

The Belem made its first voyage in 1896, just a few weeks after the first modern Olympic Games had finished in Athens.