MARSEILLE, France – The French leg of the Paris Olympic flame relay began Thursday in the southern port city of Marseille, a day after it arrived from Greece on a 19th century ship.
French former star footballer Basile Boli carried the torch from a majestic cathedral overlooking the city and handed it over to 83-year-old Colette Cataldo.
The event drew dozens of spectators including Marseille Archbishop Jean-marc Aveline.
“That really makes the heart beat fast and it’s fantastic,” said Boli after handing over the torch.
“It’s the Olympic flame, it’s the symbol of sport and of living together”, he said.
It ma rked the start of a 12,000-kilometer torch relay across France and its far-flung overseas territories.
The opening ceremony for the Olympics on July 26 will take place in boats on the river Seine in a radical departure from past Games which have opened in the main stadium.
Organizers are hoping the first public spectacle of the Games on French soi l will help build excitement after a row about the price of Olympics tickets and concerns about security.
MANILA, Philippines – The qualifiers for this year’s edition of the All Out Game s (AOG) have commenced.
The qualifier workouts, which is the initial phase of the competition season, will run until May 17.
“During this qualifying phase, athletes compete to achieve the best possible performance scores. Based on their performances, only a select number of athletes will advance to the final stages of the competition,” the AOG said in a statement.
“The event is designed to be beginner-friendly, encouraging newcomers to participate in a functional fitness competition,” it added.
The qualifier workout is composed of three parts of exercises to be performed in 20 minutes.
The competition proper will be held on September 21 to 22 of this year. Like last year, it will be held at the Filinvest Tent. Invitations will be released on June 15th.
For the AOG, there will be two categories — individual and teams of three.
The individual category will have several divisions — chill out, sweat out, master’s sweat out, master’s all out and all out. For the teams of three, there will be three divisions — chill out, sweat out and all out.
The games will be held in partnership with the Hidilyn Diaz Weightlifting Academy.
Last year’s competition was a success with a total of 428 individuals taking part.