The 3,100-mile Olympic torch relay is underway. Here's what to know about the symbolic tradition.

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The Olympic flame has been lit in Olympia, Greece, kicking off the torch relay for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ahead of each Summer Olympics, the torch is lit in the ancient site where the games were founded, connecting the event back to its roots.

The torch is carried to the host city by runners and other modes of transportation. This year, the torch will be carried to Athens and then taken on a three-masted sailboat across the Mediterranean Sea to Marseille, France. It will travel around France and its islands with athletes until it lands in Paris on July 26 for the opening ceremony of the games.

Boats will carry the torch to islands like Martinique and French Polynesia. A complete list of stops is found on the Olympics website and the relay will be live-streamed. It will take 68 days to complete the 3,100-mile relay.

A selection process to choose the whopping 10,000 athletes who will carry the flame began in June 2023. 

The torch never goes out during the relay. A new torch is designed for each Olympics and it is specially made to withstand elements. The flame is typically fueled by gas and is capable of burning longer than the relay will take. It rests in a special cauldron overnight.

A special ceremony was held in Olympia on Tuesday, with an actress lighting the flame at the temple of the Greek goddess Hera.

The ancient Olympic games were held in Olympia from 776 BC through 393 AD and the first modern Olympics began in Athens in 1896.

But the symbolic torch wasn't used until the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and the inaugural relay took place in 1936 ahead of the Berlin Olympics.

The relay has been held for every Summer Olympics since and is even in the Olympic rule book, which states: "The Olympic flame is the flame which is kindled in Olympia under the authority of the IOC."  

Olympic swimmer Florent Manaudou was chosen as a leader for one of the relays.

"It's incredible to be captain. When you are a kid discovering the Games, you see the sporting part but also the Olympic torch, which is highly symbolic," Manaudou said. "I am very happy to showcase all the amazing landscapes we have in France."

In:
• Sports
• Olympics

Caitlin O'Kane

Caitlin O'Kane is a New York City journalist who works on the CBS News social media team as a senior manager of content and production. She writes about a variety of topics and produces "The Uplift," CBS News' streaming show that focuses on good news.