“I want to do it again, I’m ready!” Daniel Rebiffé, a 99-year-old former athlete, will carry the Olympic torch for the second time in his life on Monday, after having had the honour of doing so at the 1948 London Olympics.
“I won’t hide the fact that I was in tears,” says the elderly man from his retirement home in Amboise, recalling the day he received a letter from the president of the organising committee, Tony Estanguet, announcing the news.
When he learned that the flame would pass through his hometown of Etampes on July 22, Daniel Rebiffé decided to carry the Olympic torch once again.
“Last Christmas he welcomed me dressed in sportswear. He was wearing a cap and the flame from the 1948 London Games. He said: I want to do it again, I’m ready,” says his son Sylvain.
So, mission accomplished: this former runner will carry the flame on Monday after lengthy bureaucratic procedures.
Daniel Rebiffé joined the Republican Guard at the age of 19, just after the Second World War. An Olympic runner who competed against the likes of Alain Mimoun and Michel Jazy during his career, he was one of the 24 athletes chosen in 1948 to carry the Olympic flame from the Swiss border to the Luxembourg border.
“It was something improvised by the federation at the last minute and yet it was very successful,” he says. “We travelled 550 kilometres in France, day and night, accompanied by one motorcyclist in front and one behind.”
He says he was “welcomed with open arms” throughout the entire journey. “As we passed, committees organised fireworks and dances. However, there was no media to celebrate the event,” he laughs as he looks through a yellowed photo album.
Sports race
From that experience he kept a copy of the torch, made of cast iron and aluminium. “It wasn’t light, it had a methane ball inside that we had to recharge periodically. Also, we couldn’t carry it very close to the body. We had to extend our arm. After a few kilometres, it became very heavy,” he says.
During the race, an honour guard of three or four runners followed the flame at each stage.
An English delegate from the Olympic Committee was also present: “He carried an urn with a flame in case ours went out. Between Contrexéville and Vittel, at three in the morning, there was a storm and we had to put it on the bus. Despite everything, it never went out,” promises Daniel Rebiffé.
For him, carrying the torch once again in 2024 is “a unique opportunity to relive this journey.”
“We all remember the 1936 Berlin Games: Hitler refused to shake hands with the American Jesse Owens because he had just won the 100 metres against the German Luz Long. Imagine the immense joy of 1948 when we found ourselves at the Olympic Games in a Europe at peace. This is what I want to pass on to the new generations,” he says.
This time, Daniel Rebiffé is not sure he will be able to carry the Olympic flame in his hand. “For a few metres, why not? But no more… At almost 100 years old, you have to be reasonable!”
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