Paris's 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games embrace more than athletic prowess. The event is also a stage for designers, artists and artisans to showcase their talents. RFI met Matthieu Lehanneur, the designer of the Olympic torch, an iconic object that is one of the symbols of the Games.
"It is important to realise that between the first and the last torch, we went through a lot of adjustments," Lehanneur told RFI.
He drew inspiration from three themes of Paris 2024: Equality, Water and Peacefulness.
Water, for example, inspired the waved base of the torch, which reproduces ripples and the reflections of light on water's surface, according to Paris organisers.
An Olympic torch weighs 1.5 kg and measures 70 cm high and 3.5 cm in diameter.
To reduce the environmental footprint, the Paris 2024 Games produced fewer torches.
There are only 2,000 torches, each manufactured by Arcelor Mittal: 1,500 for the Olympics and 500 for the Paralympics, each of which will be used around 10 times during the ceremonial relay through France and its overseas territories.
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Lit in accordance with ancient traditions by the rays of the sun in Olympia, Greece, the Olympic flame arrived in mainland France on 8 May after crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
It was carried by Olympic champions young and old, famous sports personalities, amateur sportspeople and ordinary citizens over a four-month journey.
Champion French sprinter Marie-José Perec and judoka Teddy Riner carried the torch at the end of the relay on 26 July during the opening ceremony and lit the Olympic cauldron in the Tuileries Gardens.
The torch will be lit once again in Stoke Mandeville, a symbolic location of the Paralympic Games.
A thousand torchbearers will carry a new flame as part of the relay, which will ignite the cauldron of the Paralympic Games during the opening ceremony on 28 August 2024.
This report is adapted from the 100% Création podcast in French produced by RFI's Maria Afonso.
