The 2024 Olympic Games in Normandy

The first convoy, on Friday July 5, 2024, will highlight the towns it passes through: Rouen, Dieppe and Yvetot, ending in Le Havre, where a festive closing ceremony is planned. In Rouen, the route of the flame will begin at the Hôtel du Département, then pass in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Gros-Horloge. A second “agile” convoy, with a lighter layout, will highlight three other sites: theAbbaye de Jumièges, the Château de Mirville near Bolbec and the cliffs of Etretat. These three sites, emblematic of the Seine-Maritime region, highlight the history of Olympism. The founder of the Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, spent his entire youth at the Château de Mirville, and it was here that he drafted the Charter of the Olympic Games in 1898.

The detailed route of the Olympic torch relay on July 5:

Departure : 8H19 – Cours Clémenceau

Rue Lafayette, rue d’Elbeuf, rue Marie Duboccage, rue Pierre Renaudel, rue du Cours, rue Ledru Rollin, rue Desmousseaux, rue du Prieuré, rue Henri II Plantagenêtt, avenue de Grammont, rue David Ferrand, rue du Mail, rue Malouet, place Carnot, avenue Champlain, quai Jean Moulin, pont Boieldieu, rue Grand Pont, place de la Cathédrale, rue du Gros-Horloge, rue Jeanne d’Arc, rue Jean Lecanuet

Finish: 9:38 am – Place du Général de Gaulle – in front of the Town Hall

Please note: all these streets will be closed to parking from 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 2, and to traffic from 7 a.m. on the day the flame passes through. On July 5, the streets of Général Leclerc (Grand Pont/Jeanne d’Arc section), Jeanne d’Arc (Général Leclerc/Lecanuet section) and rue Louis Ricard up to the Bourg l’Abbé section will be closed to parking and traffic.

These applications were approved, and the Kindarena in Rouen (for basketball, wheelchair basketball and handball), the Bougeard boxing hall in Canteleu, the complexe sportif du chêne in Leu for football, etc., were among the facilities approved. Canteleu, the Chêneà Leusports complex for soccer, etc. A total of 16 facilities in the communes of Sotteville-lès-Rouen, Petit-Quevilly, Petit-Couronne, Rouen, Grand-Quevilly, Maromme and Canteleu have been selected. From this list, the various delegations will be able to choose the facilities they require to host their athletes. Some 30 teamswill be training in Normandy! The French team will play a warm-up match against Turkey on July 3 at the Kindarena. Tickets are already on sale!

The torch relay is an essential step in announcing the start of the Games, as it conveys a message of friendship and peace between peoples. The flame will be lit in Greece on April 16, 2024 in the sanctuary of Olympia, according to ancient tradition, using the sun’s rays and a parabolic mirror. It will then arrive in Marseille on May 8, 2024 aboard the Belem, the official relay boat, to begin its 68-day journey across France. It will parade through more than 400 towns and cities in France, and will not be extinguished until the closing ceremony of the Games. There will be 20 torchbearers for each city it passes through, six official torchbearers, all technically accompanied by a 300-strong procession. The Paralympic flame will also be welcomed in Rouen on August 25. It’s an obvious choice for Rouen and the Rouen Normandy Metropolis, which have been awarded the “Land of Games” label and have made access to sports for all a priority.

It is also in Normandy that more than 2,000 Olympic torches will be manufactured by Guy Degrenne in association with ArcelorMittal in Vire, Calvados. The flames are made from remelted parts of cars or old dishwashers, resulting in a 0.7 mm-thick sheet of steel which is then cut to size. Unlike the previous Olympics, when over 15,000 torches were made, these will be removable and washable.

Top 10 cheap destinations

For this occasion, Normandy also stands out in terms of accommodation, as Lonely Planet has ranked it among the top 10 cheap destinations to escape the Parisian frenzy of the Games. Just 1h30 from Paris by train, Rouen is the ideal city to experience the games in complete tranquillity.

Finally, among the major events that will take place during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Fédération Française de la randonnée Pédestre (French Hiking Federation) is organizing “La grande randonnée vers Paris” from January 11 to May 12, 2024. The aim is to get hikers from all over the country to hike to Paris over 560 stages and more than 10,000 km. Each region will be represented by ambassadors who will cover all or part of the route to Paris. The aim is to involve different publics in the itinerary, organize events in the stopover towns, promote the Olympic Games as part of the Terre de Jeux initiative, and invite overseas France and border countries to take part in the itinerary. In Seine-Maritime, the tour will start on Tuesday April 16 on the GR©2 in 8 stages, finishing on Tuesday April 23 at Les Authieux-du-Port-Saint-Ouen. These hikes are open to all experienced hikers (total vertical drop 2,959 m), whether or not they are FFRandonnée members.