BTS' Jin to carry Olympic torch in Paris
By Jonathan Hicap
Jin, a member of Grammy-nominated K-pop group BTS, will be carrying the Olympic torch in Paris.
He has been selected as a torchbearer for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will be held from July 26 to Aug. 11 in Paris, France.
BTS' Jin (Big Hit Music)
The Olympic torch (top) and the Louvre Pyramid (Photos: Musée du Louvre on X)
The Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games announced that Jin will be the first torchbearer in the Louvre section of the torch relay in Paris on July 14.
Jin will start his section at the Louvre Pyramid at about 8:30 p.m.
He boarded his flight to France at Incheon International Airport on July 11.
“On Sunday 14 July, the Olympic Torch Relay arrives in Paris as it begins the final stage of a journey that will end on 26 July at the Opening Ceremony of Paris 2024,” according to the Paris 2024 website.
The article added, “The relay will pass by many of France’s most recognizable sites this Sunday, starting at the Grand Palais and finishing its route at the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville. 14 July is also Bastille Day, a national holiday in France, and nothing could send a more powerful message than seeing the torch weave its way across the City of Light.”
“The torch will make its way down the Champs-Élysées the traditional location of a Bastille Day military parade. From there, it will head to the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, before passing through the Jardin du Luxembourg: a 25-hectare green oasis in the heart of the city,” it stated.
According to the report, “The torch will then zip past L'Olympia, before setting course for the prestigious Place Vendôme and onto the Louvre - one of the most famous art museums in the world. It will then advance to the Centre Pompidou, which houses the biggest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, before moving on to the celebration site: Place de l'Hôtel de Ville.”
A total of 10,000 Olympic torchbearers will participate in the relay “in over 400 towns and cities, including five overseas regions (French Guiana, Reunion Island, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, and Martinique) before the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony," according to Paris 2024.
Jin enlisted in the military on Dec. 13, 2022 and was discharged last June 12 after 18 months of military service. He is the first member of BTS to finish the military service.
The Olympic torch relay route from Louvre Museum to Place de l'Hôtel de Ville (Paris 2024)