French athlete, former NBA superstar and vintner Tony Parker appeared in the 2024 Olympic spotlight again, bearing the signature flame for a second time. During the Games' opening ceremony in Paris, the co-owner of Provence rosé producer Château La Mascaronne participated in the final stage of the torch relay to the cauldron.
Parker was joined in the relay by many European sports icons, including former soccer star and team manager Zinedine Zidane, 14-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal, and women's tennis champion and wine collector Amélie Mauresmo—a silver medalist in the 2004 Olympics and a two-time Grand Slam winner—who handed off to Parker.
Another familiar name in wine joined the roster of torch-bearers earlier that day: Snoop Dogg, who is serving as a celebrity correspondent for the Games. Dressed in a white tracksuit and gold sneakers, the rapper—who partnered with 19 Crimes wine on his Cali Red, Cali Blanc, Cali Rosé and Cali Gold wines, as well as a line of canned cocktails—carried the flame through the Paris suburb of St.-Denis, as did French rapper MC Solaar.
Two Rosé Producers Carry the Flame in Southern France
Posted: May 30, 2024
As France gears up to host the summer Olympics in Paris this July, a number of former athletes–turned–wine producers got their chance to carry the famed torch as part of a longstanding tradition, the Olympic Torch Relay.
“I am very proud to carry the Olympic flame, firstly because I represent my territory, and above all because it symbolizes self-transcendence and the peace that we need in the world,” Gérard Bertrand, famed Languedoc winemaker, told Wine Spectator after he greeted the Olympic torch when it arrived in the city of Narbonne on May 16.
Before he became the world’s leading biodynamic winegrower, and led the revitalization of the underappreciated Languedoc region in Southern France with his collection of 17 wine estates, Bertrand played professional rugby, as a member of the RC Narbonne team and also Stade Français Paris Rugby.
Earlier this month, another famous French athlete, NBA legend Tony Parker, enjoyed the honor of torchbearer on May 9 in Marseille, where the flame had arrived by boat from Greece. Parker was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2023 after a successful career playing for the San Antonio Spurs, driving the team to four NBA championships. A French native, he has focused his post-basketball career on his wine estate, Château La Mascaronne, which he co-owns with wine entrepreneur Michel Reybier.
“There's an incredible energy. In that moment, you take pleasure,” Parker described. “There's no pressure, just excitement. For me, it's symbolic because it was my childhood friend, Gaëtan Müller, who got me started [in basketball]. We are now associated at ASVEL,” referring to the professional basketball team that Parker owns in Lyon, France. “Afterwards, I spoke to Nando de Colo, with whom we were European champions together.”
Traditionally lit in Olympia—the site of the ancient games in Greece—the torch is then carried on a long relay race to the location of the games. This year’s journey will feature 11,000 torchbearers who will cumulatively travel 7,500 miles, primarily on foot, to Paris. On June 9, the torch will travel to France’s overseas territories (French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique, among others), then back to Nice and up to the Olympic stadium in Paris on July 26 for the opening ceremony of the games.
In order to showcase the beauty and diversity of the French landscape, the torch will detour to the Lascaux caves, the medieval city of Carcassonne and the Palace of Versailles, as well as visiting significant locations in history, including the Verdun Memorial and D-Day Landing Beach in Normandy.
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