The sleek, silver-colored, recyclable steel cylinder with gently tapering ends that will be used to carry the Olympic flame around France and on its final leg during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Games is being produced in a small quantity to conserve resources. As part of a week-long schedule of events marking the one-year countdown to the opening on July 26, Paris organizers unveiled the torch design by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur on Tuesday. Five times fewer torches are being made from recyclable steel, according to the organizers, than for some past Olympic games.
Each one is 70 centimeters (27.5 inches) tall and 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) in weight. The Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris will both feature the same torch design. The flame will be ignited in Ancient Olympia, Greece, and then sailed by sea to Marseille in Southern France. On May 8, 10,000 torchbearers will begin the torch relay from that location, carrying it in shifts until the final one lights the cauldron at the opening ceremony.