US rapper Snoop Dogg to carry Olympic torch

Paris (AFP): American rapper Snoop Dogg will be among the carriers of the Olympic flame this Friday as it makes its final rounds before the Paris Games’ opening ceremony.

He will carry it through the streets of Saint-Denis, the ethnically diverse northern Paris suburb that is home to the Olympic Stadium and Aquatics Centre, the town’s mayor Mathieu Hanotin told AFP on Monday.

Other carriers in Saint-Denis Friday will include French actress Laetitia Casta, French rapper MC Solaar and Ukrainian retired pole-vaulter Sergey Bubka.

The Olympic flame has spent two months crossing France, and Friday morning it will be carried through the athletes’ village which straddles Saint-Denis and neighbouring Saint-Ouen, before going to the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre a few kilometres away.

Snoop Dogg, 52, was born in greater Los Angeles, which will host the next Games in 2028.

The torch relay will not be the rapper’s only appearance at the 2024 Games as he will also be an Olympic commentator for US television station NBC.