Rafael Nadal is here. No, Carl Lewis, Nadia Comaneci, Serena Williams? In Paris’s Jardin des Tuileries, dozens of athletes, both past and present, pass the Olympic flame during the balloon cauldron lighting ceremony.
PARIS: The Olympic torch lighting ceremony honored some of the greatest French athletes, both internationally and domestically recognized. Among them was Zinedine Zidane, the squad captain of the 1998 World Cup-winning French team. Rafael Nadal, whose 14 French Open victories define his career. Victor Wembanyama, the current French superstar, entered the NBA thanks to Tony Parker’s success with the San Antonio Spurs.
But the athletes who were less well-known were the ones who really made it unforgettable. Seated in his wheelchair, France’s oldest living Olympian, Charles Coste, who turned 100 earlier this year, accepted the torch.
Then, Cost was met by two three-time Olympians, track and field’s Marie-José Pérec and judoka Teddy Riner.e. After touching their torches to his, the two approached what appeared to be a sizable sphere hung in the air carefully by walking up a ramp.
However, the cauldron turned out to be a hot air balloon that had soared high into the Paris night sky after Riner and PeŁrec lit the base…
Serena Williams, who won three of her 23 Grand Slam titles at the French Open, Carl Lewis, a four-time Olympic champion from the 1984 Games, and Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, who achieved the first-ever perfect 10-point performance in Olympic history at the 1976 Games, joined Nadal on his leg of the relay, which involved a boat ride.
