Coca Cola and BPCE to sponsor 2024 Paris Torch relay

Despite the various changes the torch relay has seen over the years, the Coca-Cola brand has been synonymous with the Olympic tradition throughout the last century.

The Paris Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) announced this week that Coca-Cola, will join the French banking group BPCE as first-tier sponsors. A third and final relay sponsor will be named before the end of the year.

According to Eric Desbonnets, the vice-president of engagement for the Olympic Games, the event will allow Coca-Cola to accelerate “the transformation of its distribution model”. With sustainability at the forefront, recycling of glass and plastic bottles along with reusable cups will allow spectators to serve themselves at their leisure along the route.

Inclusion is another top priority for the soft drink giant. Throughout the torch relay, Coca-Cola will select a thousand individuals from disadvantaged communities to carry the flame through its ‘Sport in the City’ initiative.

The exact route of the torch relay is still unclear. Originally, the OCOG wanted to have an XXL version of the event, but the organizers were forced to rethink their plans after several officials refused to pay a $150,000 euro fee.

Delphine Moulin, the OCOG official in charge of the torch relay, announced that the flame would pass through “sixty French departments” as well as making a stop in Tahiti, which will host the surfing competition in French Polynesia.

The estimated cost of the torch relay is around 30 to 35 million euros. The daily cost of the torch relay is expected to be around 450,000 euros, with a third of the budget being supported by the territories visited. The relay will run for around 70 to 80 days, visit 700 towns and communities, with a total cost of around 35 million euros.

The exact route of the torch relay will be unveiled in mid-2023 along with OCOG unveiling the final design of the torch at that time.

The relay will start in the spring of 2024 and end in the middle of Paris on the day of the opening ceremony (July 26th). Around 12,000 runners will carry the torch, running solo, in pairs or as a team.