Olympic torch reaches Paris in elegant style

Paris: Before an enthusiastic crowd on Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the grand boulevard of the French capital, the Olympic torch arrived in Paris on Sunday in a luxury Louis Vuitton suitcase, 12 days before the opening of the Games.

The custom-made suitcase stood for some time on a pedestal in the middle of the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées, a major intersection, looking a little lonely. It was then opened and the torch handed to Thierry Henry, one of the greats of French soccer.

As cheers rose from the crowd, Henry set off at a slow jog, bearing the now-lit torch toward the nearby Place de la Concorde. It is closed, like much of Paris, to accommodate Olympic events.

Since the flame arrived in France more than two months ago, welcomed in the ancient port city of Marseille, it has been on a far-flung journey, including to Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion and other overseas French departments.

The flame will be in Paris for two days, crisscrossing the city in the hands of 540 torchbearers to the Sorbonne, the Panthéon, the Louvre and other Paris landmarks. Paris is the epicenter of the Games, which open on July 26.

The idea of the flame’s long relay was to bring all of France and the Francophone world together in a joyous celebration of the first Olympic Games held in Paris for a century. Instead, France has endured a season of bitter division since the flame’s Marseille welcome, and the country finds itself at a chaotic political impasse.

President Emmanuel Macron chose to dissolve the National Assembly last month and call legislative elections. One week after the vote produced a parliament divided among left-wing, centrist and right-wing blocs, none with an absolute majority, no agreement on a governing coalition has been reached.

France finds itself in limbo, with a caretaker government, a situation that may now last through the Games.

The torch was carried Sunday past the vacant National Assembly — the new parliament has not convened yet — by Jean Turco, who at the age of 106 is the oldest former lawmaker in France.