The runners are off for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch Relay!

The Paris 2024 Olympic Flame was extinguished on Sunday August 11. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Flame, on the other hand, was lit in Stoke Mandeville (Great Britain), the historic birthplace of Paralympic sport, to set out on its relay. On August 25, embarking upon a symbolic (under)sea crossing via the Channel Tunnel in the company of 24 English carriers, including one man and one woman employed by Groupe BPCE, the Paris 2024 Paralympic Flame was handed over at the tunnel’s halfway point to 24 French carriers, including two other Group employees. When the flame arrived in Calais – a magical moment! – it was divided into 12 individual flames which, for four days, will fan out simultaneously across the country to cover all the different regions of mainland France. It should be noted that a 13th Flame will be lit in Paris to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the city’s liberation.

From August 25 to 28, 2024, 1,000 torch bearers (including 100 people selected by the Banques Populaires, Caisses d’Epargne and Groupe BPCE) will carry the Paris 2024 Paralympic Flame to some 50 different cities, rekindling the festive spirit and signaling the start of the Paralympic celebrations. All the energies of the torch bearers will then symbolically merge in Paris before the Paris 2024 Paralympic Flame is used to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony on August 28, 2024.

Exceptional intensity

Groupe BPCE, alongside the Banques Populaires and Caisses d’Epargne, Official Sponsors of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch Relay, is proud to be a part of this celebration. The route chosen for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch Relay – a festive event to be shared widely – will focus attention on French regions committed to promoting inclusion in sport and to heightening awareness of disability, as well as others that stand out because of their history or the exceptional panoramas that give France its outstanding reputation.

This is an ambition shared by the Banques Populaires, Caisses d’Epargne and the entire Groupe BPCE, all committed on a daily basis to diversity, equity and inclusion within their respective companies and in society as a whole.

Starting on August 28, Paris will become the focal point of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, with a ceremony in the very heart of the capital, from the Champs-Elysées to the Place de la Concorde. A major first. Make sure you’re there for this historic moment!

To learn more about which athletes, para athletes, and teams supported by Groupe BPCE companies are present at Paris 2024: