French gold medallists Perec and Riner light Olympic cauldron

PARIS :French three-times Olympic gold medallists Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner lit the Paris 2024 Olympic cauldron on Friday during the opening ceremony, where it will burn while the Games are under way in the French capital.

Perec, 56, won three gold medals across two Olympics in athletics and was the heavy favourite to light the cauldron near the Louvre Museum.

Riner, who is competing in Paris, has won two individual judo gold medals and one team gold.

Perec is widely considered France's greatest Summer Olympian, having won the 400 metres at the Barcelona Games in 1992 before claiming a 200-400 double four years later in Atlanta.

Like Riner, Perec was born in the overseas region of Guadeloupe.

Riner, 35, will bid for a third individual gold when he starts his event in the +100kg category.

They were each handed a torch in the Jardin des Tuileries after several top sporting names, including French soccer great Zinedine Zidane, Spain's 14-times French Open tennis champion Rafael Nadal, American 23-times Grand Slam winner Serena Williams and Romanian gymnastics great Nadia Comaneci.