By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) – The identity of the person who lights the Olympic cauldron on the night of the opening ceremony is one of sport’s best-kept secrets, with less than a dozen people in the know.
Paris 2024 organising committee president Tony Estanguet on Sunday said the person who will light the cauldron on Friday was not yet aware they had been selected.
Here are the top five contenders:
MARIE-JOSE PEREC
The 56-year-old is widely considered to be France’s best Olympian of all time, with three gold medals across two Games in athletics.
Perec, who was born in the overseas region of Guadeloupe, won the 400 metres title at the Barcelona Games in 1992 before achieving the 200-400m double four years later in Atlanta.
She bore the torch in her native Guadeloupe but Estanguet said someone who had already carried it could not be ruled out.
OMAR SY
The star of ‘The Untouchables’, of West African origin, is one of France’s most-beloved personalities. He also stars in the Netflix show ‘Lupin’, whose first series is the third-most watched on the platform, with almost 100 million viewers.
ZINEDINE ZIDANE
France’s greatest soccer player who helped Les Bleus to their first World Cup title, on home soil in 1998 and to the European title two years later, Zidane, whose parents are from Algeria, hails from the Marseille estates.
He was the favourite to bring the Olympic flame to land in Marseille after its boat trip from Greece but eventually was not involved.
THOMAS PESQUET
The Frenchman is the most experienced European astronaut with almost 400 days spent in space – and possibly as many spent on TV sets due to his huge popularity in the country.
SURVIVOR(S) FROM THE NOVEMBER 13, 2015 ATTACKS
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo says she decided to support the Olympic bid after Islamist squads killed 130 people in a night of carnage across Paris on Nov. 13, 2015, looking to lift the Parisians’ moods. It would be fitting to see one or several survivors of the attacks light the cauldron on Friday.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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