he organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have unveiled the design for the Torch that will carry the Olympic and Paralympic Flames before lighting the main flame that will mark the start of next year’s event. To create it, the Paris 2024 team chose to work with multidisciplinary French designer Mathieu Lehanneur, who says his design is “extremely pure, iconic, almost elemental” It will travel thousands of kilometres, passed from person to person, on land and sea, beginning in Marseille on 8 May and ending at the start of the games in Paris on 26 July. The Torch is manufactured by steel firm ArcelorMittal and is made of 100% recycled steel. Only 2,000 Torches will be produced to reduce their carbon footprint. The steel is rolled at Florange in the Moselle département, on lines that are usually used for automotive products. Then the ArcelorMittal site at Woippy, in the Moselle département, cuts the steel sheet into blanks ready for shaping. A goldsmith based in Normandy then ensures the perfect shaping of the sheets in their factory to form the top and bottom parts of the Torch. These sections are then finished with a high-tech coating, giving the Torch its characteristic appearance and colour. It is then assembled to include the burner and other various parts - and is ready to be carried by torchbearers!