French torch bearer honored, excited to carry flame for Paris 2024 Olympics

Arnaud Dourlens, an employee at the French pharmaceutical and healthcare firm Sanofi, is overwhelmed with honor and excitement after being selected as an Olympic torch bearer for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics.

Sanofi, a major sponsor of the games, provided its employees with an opportunity to apply for this prestigious role. For Dourlens, the chance to be a torch bearer is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that he could not miss.

"There was a lot of communication in the company and they sent a short email saying you could apply to be a torch bearer, and at that time it was very clear for me, it was a unique opportunity. So I replied, and sent a letter to explain why I'm ready to do so. By chance, I'm here today," said Dourlens.

The Olympic flame, which symbolizes unity and the core values of the Olympic Games, holds great significance for Dourlens.

"For me being a torch bearer is a unique opportunity to celebrate the Olympic Games. Definitely there are a lot of values behind Olympic Games that resonate for me, around excellence, around also being able to have a high performance. And also it's something around the world, you know, a kind of union, a time of peace, a time of being together. You can compete and be friends and in this world I think it means a lot," said Dourlens.

The Paris 2024 Olympic flame arrived in the French port city of Marseille on the historic French ship, the Belem, on Wednesday, and Dourlens and his family joined over 230,000 spectators, eagerly awaiting the arrival.

The following morning, in a historic neighborhood of Marseille, Dourlens's family, along with numerous others, excitedly anticipated the torch's journey through the city.

"We are very surprised and excited. It's a beautiful day, and we didn't expect all this to happen. It's very extraordinary," said Lucy Dourlens, Dourlens's wife.

When the moment arrived, Dourlens received the flame from the previous torch bearer and embarked on his own leg of the relay. Jogging approximately 200 meters, he greeted the cheering crowd along the route, carrying the symbolic flame proudly.

All across France, enthusiastic crowds have been gathering, waiting hours for a fleeting glimpse of the torch.

In total 10,000 torch bearers will help transport the flame across France and its territories before reaching France's capital Paris on July 26 for the opening of the games.

French torch bearer honored, excited to carry flame for Paris 2024 Olympics

Space-bred cranberry seedlings, carried into space aboard multiple missions and nurtured through two years of greenhouse breeding and acclimatization, have begun field transplantation at a plantation in northeast China.

The seedlings were carried into space aboard China's Shenzhou-14, Shenzhou-16 and Shijian-19 missions. After returning to Earth, they underwent a rigorous two-year period of greenhouse breeding and acclimatization before being transferred to open fields for large-scale management and monitoring. Now, they are being planted in fields in Fuyuan, Heilongjiang Province.

Cheng Zhengxin, a technical engineer at the plantation, explained the meticulous transplantation procedures needed to safeguard the delicate seedlings' superior traits and maximize their survival rates in the open fields.

"Now is the ideal season for transplantation. We are moving the space-bred cranberry seedlings from greenhouses into open fields for large-scale management. During the process, we must keep the original roots and soil intact without damaging the root systems or branches. After transplantation, timely watering is needed to keep the soil moist but without water accumulation," she said.

Regarding the future direction of the breeding program, the plantation's general manager Li Feng explained the vision for domestic cultivation.

"The seedlings we are working with come from our space breeding program and radiation simulation experiments conducted with the Harbin Institute of Technology. In the future, we will continue field observation and variety comparison experiments to cultivate cranberry varieties suitable for growing in China and help fill the gap in domestic cranberry germplasm resources," he said.

Cranberries used to be sourced mainly from North America, but Fuyuan City has made breakthroughs since 2014 in the production of cranberries via cooperation among the government, companies, research institutions and colleges. Once deserted experimental fields in the city have been transformed into the biggest planting base for cranberries in China. Recent years saw Fuyuan further extending the industrial chain of cranberries to enrich the product line ranging from juice and ice cream to beer and cosmetics, which now serves as a major cash cow to the local economy.

Space-bred cranberry seedlings transplanted into fields in northeast China