Officials from the Paris 2024 Organising Committee have been given "sacred soil" from the ancient site in Olympia to help them promote the traditional Torch Relay.

Émilie Gomis, a London 2012 women's basketball silver medallist, was invited to collect precisely 2,024 grams of soil from the site where the Olympic Flame is expected to be kindled for Paris 2024.

"This is a unique moment in the history of the Games," Gomis said.

"Beyond connecting Olympia and Greece with Paris and France, we want to open the Games wide through this sacred soil that I will have the honour of bringing  back to France." 

The soil will be taken back to Paris in a special tube and will be used to help promote the Olympics.

The presentation in Olympia formed part of a three-day fact-finding mission by the Terre de Jeux group from Paris 2024 which links all areas of France with the Games.

Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) Olympic Torch Relay Commission President Thanasis Vassiliadis briefed his French visitors on how the Flame's lighting ritual is conducted in the ancient archaeological precincts in Olympia. 

"We answered all the questions they asked and had a great collaboration ahead of the Ceremonies to come,” Vassiliadis said.

The visitors were also taken to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens where HOC secretary Manolis Kolympadis was on hand to show them how the Flame is formally entrusted to the host city in the Handover Ceremony.

"I am sure that this cooperation will continue in the future and I want to assure the Paris Organising Committee that both Ceremonies for the Olympic Flame of 2024 will be truly exemplary," Vassiliadis added.

Although Paris is set to host the Olympics for the third time after 1900 and 1924, this will be the first time an Olympic Torch will burn at a Parisian Games because the Olympic Torch Relay was not inaugurated until the 1936 Olympics.

The Flame did travel to France for the Winter Olympics in 1968 and 1992 and Paris was also a destination for the international Torch Relays held for the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Games.

Last week Coca-Cola announced its sponsorship of the Paris 2024 Torch Relay alongside banking group Banques Populaires et des Caisses d'Epargne (BPCE).

It is anticipated that a domestic Torch Relay in Greece lasting approximately one week will take place before the formal handover.

This will represent a return to traditional practice after events organised for Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 were severely curtailed as part of precautions against the spread of COVID-19.

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Philip Barker, a freelance journalist, has been on the editorial team of the Journal of Olympic History and is credited with having transformed the publication into one of the most respected historical publications on the history of the Olympic Games. He is also an expert on Olympic Music, a field which is not generally well known.

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The IOC - Senior Programme Manager - Lausanne, Switzerland

The IOC is one of the most valuable sports brands in the world. We ensure the regular celebration of the Olympic Games and promote positive social change around the world. We are driven by our vision of unifying and inspiring a better world through sport. Equality, inclusion and diversity are embedded in our DNA because we know that we are strongest when we are together. We are looking for a Senior Program Manager to join our thriving team. You will play a key role in ensuring the preparations for each Games are on time and deliver against all objectives and requirements needed for an incredible stakeholder experience. You will also help to embed effective program planning and oversight to support the delivery of key strategic initiatives to transform and enhance Games delivery.

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Support insidethegames.biz for as little as £10

For nearly 15 years now, insidethegames.biz has been at the forefront of reporting fearlessly on what happens in the Olympic Movement. As the first website not to be placed behind a paywall, we have made news about the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and other major events more accessible than ever to everybody. 

insidethegames.biz has established a global reputation for the excellence of its reporting and breadth of its coverage. For many of our readers from more than 200 countries and territories around the world the website is a vital part of their daily lives. The ping of our free daily email alert, sent every morning at 6.30am UK time 365 days a year, landing in their inbox, is as a familiar part of their day as their first cup of coffee.

Even during the worst times of the COVID-19 pandemic, insidethegames.biz maintained its high standard of reporting on all the news from around the globe on a daily basis. We were the first publication in the world to signal the threat that the Olympic Movement faced from the coronavirus and have provided unparalleled coverage of the pandemic since. 

As the world begins to emerge from the COVID crisis, insidethegames.biz would like to invite you to help us on our journey by funding our independent journalism. Your vital support would mean we can continue to report so comprehensively on the Olympic Movement and the events that shape it. It would mean we can keep our website open for everyone. Last year, nearly 25 million people read insidethegames.biz, making us by far the biggest source of independent news on what is happening in world sport. 

Every contribution, however big or small, will help maintain and improve our worldwide coverage in the year ahead. Our small and dedicated team were extremely busy last year covering the re-arranged Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, an unprecedented logistical challenge that stretched our tight resources to the limit. 

The remainder of 2022 is not going to be any less busy, or less challenging. We had the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, where we sent a team of four reporters, and coming up are the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the Summer World University and Asian Games in China, the World Games in Alabama and multiple World Championships. Plus, of course, there is the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Unlike many others, insidethegames.biz is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe that sport belongs to everybody, and everybody should be able to read information regardless of their financial situation. While others try to benefit financially from information, we are committed to sharing it with as many people as possible. The greater the number of people that can keep up to date with global events, and understand their impact, the more sport will be forced to be transparent.

Support insidethegames.biz for as little as £10 - it only takes a minute. If you can, please consider supporting us with a regular amount each month. Thank you.