This is Belem, the 120-year-old boat taking the Olympic flame to France

The Olympic flame will arrive in French territory on Wednesday 8 May, continuing the countdown to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which are all set to begin at the end of July. After 12 days of sailing aboard the ship Belem, the Olympic flame will reach Marseille, where 150,000 people are already prepared to welcome it, less than three months before the start of the grand summer event.

Florent Manaudou, Olympic medalist in swimming, will be responsible for receiving the Olympic torch and thus beginning a journey that will culminate on 26 July with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

What is the history of the Belem?

It is the last three-masted French ship and was built in the city of Nantes in 1896. To date, it has sailed many seas and survived numerous historical tragedies. Years later, it was transformed into a yacht and acquired by an Irish engineer and brewer, Sir Arthur Ernest Guinness.

After changing ownership and even sailing the Mediterranean Sea for 15 years, the National Union of Savings Banks of France and the French Navy purchased the Belem in 1979 and undertook its restoration in the following years.

It has been present at significant events such as the centennial commemoration of the Statue of Liberty in New York and Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee in London. However, it would later forge ties with the Olympic Games in London 2012.

The Belem hosted the families of French athletes during the 2012 London Olympics. Now, it is entrusted with transporting the Olympic flame to French territory. The sailboat has a length of 58 meters and a height of 34 meters, with a speed of approximately 17 kilometers per hour. It completed 33 voyages between 1896 and 1914.