ATHENS 

Greece handed the Olympic flame to Paris 2024 organizers in a ceremony Friday attended by thousands of spectators. 

The ceremony took place in the Panathenaic stadium in central Athens, where the ancient Olympic Games were revived in 1896.

Following an 11-day relay through Greece starting April 16 from Olympia in the Peloponnese region -- the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games -- the flame arrived in Athens.

Greece's silver water polo medalist in the Tokyo 2020 Games, Ioannis Fountoulis, was the last torchbearer before the flame was handed to Paris organizers.

Chief of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Spyros Kapralos, gave the flame to the chairman of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet, and it will remain at the French Embassy overnight before it embarks for the port of Marseille in southern France.

It is expected to arrive May 8 and be received by the first torchbearer -- French swimmer Florent Manaudou.

The 33rd edition of the Summer Olympics will begin July 26 with an opening ceremony on the River Seine.