Olympic flag arrives in Paris ahead of 2024 Games ⁰

Mayor Anne Hidalgo returned to the French capital on Monday with the Olympic flag from Tokyo ahead of Paris’s turn to host the Games in 2024.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo brandished the Olympic flag after disembarking from the Air France flight that brought many of France’s Olympic medalists back to Charles de Gaulle airport.

Hidalgo, who formally received the flag Sunday during the Tokyo closing ceremony from International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, told reporters the flag “is the symbol that now, really, the Paris Games are coming”, adding: They will be “very positive for our country”.

She said the Tokyo Games were “organised in very difficult conditions” because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

French organisers will stay in touch with Japanese counterparts to prepare for the Paris Games, including on security issues, Hidalgo added.

The Olympic flag will be raised at Paris City Hall later on Monday. A celebration will then take place at Trocadero square, which overlooks the Eiffel Tower, so that the public can welcome the French medalists home.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)