Bidding began on Wednesday for a napkin on which soccer club Barcelona penned a promise to sign a 13-year-old Lionel Messi – who went on to become one of the game’s greatest players – with early bids reaching almost $300,000.

The napkin was signed in December 2000 when Carles Rexach, then Barcelona’s sporting director, agreed with agent Horacio Gaggioli to recruit the Argentine teenager who went on to become the club’s all-time top scorer.

Bidding for the document, described by auction house Bonhams as “blue ink on a standard Spanish waxy napkin,” was at 220,000 pounds ($274,824.00) shortly after the sale opened, according to the auctioneer’s website.

The online sale closes on May 17 and has a guide price of between 300,000 and 500,000 pounds.

“It was never legally binding, but emotionally it represents the deep link or the beginning of the deep link, that Messi had with Barcelona,” said Bonhams Chief Marketing Officer Marc Sands.

Messi helped Barcelona win 35 titles, making a record 782 appearances and scoring 674 goals. Messi left Barcelona in 2021 and now plays for Inter Miami.

“If you love football, you’ll know all about Lionel Messi and you will know that he defined football for generations. If you want a slice of that action, this is the thing to get,” Sands said.

-Reuters

The Olympic flame landed on French soil amid tight security on Wednesday, firing the starting gun on a summer extravaganza of sport that President Emmanuel Macron hopes will showcase the splendours of France and burnish his legacy.

The flame arrived in Marseille, a port city in southern France founded by Greek merchants, after a 12-day trip from Greece onboard the Belem, a 128-year-old three-masted tall ship that once transported sugar from France’s colonies in the West Indies to the metropole.

The torch was brought to land by Florent Manaudou, France’s 2012 Olympic men’s 50 metres freestyle swimming champion, who handed it to Paralympic athlete Nantenin Keita, a 400 metres gold medallist at the Rio Games in 2016.

She then passed it on to Marseille-born rapper Jul, who lit the cauldron in front of an ecstatic crowd estimated at 150,000.

Earlier a flotilla of pleasure boats had welcomed the Belem to French shores.

“It marks the end of preparations, the Games arrive in the life of the French people. The flame is here, we can be proud,” Macron said.

Some 7,000 law enforcement officers including snipers and dog units secured Marseille’s Old Port, a stress test for the Paris 2024 organisers with France on its highest state of security alert against a complex geopolitical backdrop.

“There’s a huge security issue at stake. We will be ready. We will be on alert until the last second,” Macron said.

“It’s an unprecedented level of security,” Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said. “Life goes on in Marseille but under great security.”

From Marseille, the torch will continue on an 11-week odyssey that will see it criss-cross France and visit French overseas territories in the Caribbean as well as the Indian and Pacific oceans.

In all it will be carried by some 10,000 torchbearers before reaching Paris on July 26 for the Games’ opening ceremony.

Instead of a traditional opening ceremony, held in a stadium, France has planned a ritzy river parade along a six-kilometre stretch of the Seine, ending at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

SOUTHERN CHARM

Sun-baked Marseille, France’s second city, provides a different spectacle to the formal elegance of Paris and large crowds gathered around the Old Port to watch.

“It was the obvious choice,” Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 organising committee, said of Marseille, which was founded around 600 BC by Greek settlers from Phocea.

Despite a history of gang crime and poverty, its turquoise creeks and Mediterranean accents encapsulate the French southern charms that have beguiled artists and movie stars for generations.

Sports competitions have long offered nations the opportunity to exert soft power and advance their geopolitical goals. This week Chinese President Xi Jinping voiced support for Macron’s call for a global truce during the Paris 2024 Games.

Suspending armed conflicts under an “Olympic truce” is a longstanding tradition. French officials hope Xi’s endorsement is a sign that he could use his influence to persuade Russia to honour a truce in Ukraine when President Vladimir Putin travels to China later this month.

Paris itself has come to take an increasingly important role in France’s diplomatic and commercial strategies.

Last year, Pharrell Williams staged his debut menswear collection for Louis Vuitton (LVMH.PA), opens new tab along Paris’ Pont Neuf bridge, with large crowds gathered along the banks of the Seine for a glimpse of his celebrity audience.

-Reuters

The Organising Committee of the next Olympic Games has chosen Victor le Masne to be the musical director of the four ceremonies and composer of the official musical theme of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Renowned for his talent and innovation in the field of music, Victor le Masne has written and composed a captivating official musical theme that subtly blends symphonic and electronic sounds to embody the dynamic and universal spirit of Paris 2024. 

The official musical theme of the Paris 2024 Games, entitled ‘Parade’, will be performed live for the first time by the Orchestra of Marseille at the Palais du Pharo on 8 May at 19:30, when the Olympic Flame arrives in Marseille aboard the ‘Belem’ to mark the start of the Games celebrations in France. 

The flame arrives in France this Wednesday after a long journey that began in Olympia on 16 April to mark the 100 days until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. To discover an extract performed by the Orchestre National de France: https://we.tl/t-1k2adjOpwU.

This musical theme, which will be played throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games, was recorded with the Orchestre National de France and the Chœur et Maitrise de Radio France. It will capture the emotion of sport in a rousing melody that will accompany all the highlights of the Games, from this Wednesday 8 May to the competition. It will be available in several versions, with sounds and rhythms that will change according to the occasion.

Victor le Masne said, “I am honoured and excited to contribute to the unforgettable experience of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games as composer of the Official Musical Theme and musical director of the Ceremonies. My aim is to create an original soundtrack that will not only accompany the most memorable moments of these Games, but will also remain etched in the memories of all generations.” 

“Victor le Masne sets all the magic of the Paris 2024 Games to music with vivacity, composing both the values of sport and the ambitions of Paris 2024 to set the pace for the coming months,” said Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024. 

Victor le Masne is also working with Thomas Jolly as the composer of the four Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Ceremonies, each of which will have its own sonic identity inspired by the official musical theme. For 2022, the two worked together on the musical direction of the famous rock opera “Starmania”, for which he produced the new arrangements. 

-insidethegames