Photo Gallery: The Olympic Torch Relay at the Australian National Memorial

On 4 July, the 33rd leg of the Olympic Torch Relay visited the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery and the Australian National Memorial. Four torchbearers carried the flame in front of an audience of over 1,600 people, including more than 750 schoolchildren.

Take a look at the highlights of this event.

Spectators waiting for the Olympic Torch Relay to pass.

Young spectators waiting for the Olympic Torch Relay to pass. — Jubilant spectators gathered along the D23 between Villers-Bretonneux and Fouilloy, and at the entrance to the site.

The third relay runner, Athos Felemou, carrying the Olympic Torch. — © Thomas Capiaux CWGC

Relay runners Athos Felemou and Floriane Bormans performing the "torch kiss" at the relay handover. — Athos Felemou and Floriane Bormans performed the final ‘Torch kiss’ of the stage, before the torch was carried to the top of the Australian National Memorial - © Thomas Capiaux CWGC

The Olympic Flame lantern. — Kept in its lantern, the source of the Olympic flame is meticulously guarded by the Olympic Committee, and lights the first torch of each leg of the relay.

Floriane Bormans passing under the Australian flag at the Memorial site with the Olympic Torch.

The fourth relay runner, Floriane Bormans, carrying the Olympic Torch

Floriane Bormans approaching the Memorial with the Olympic Torch. — After passing through the cemetery, the Torch was carried by Floriane Bormans, a local athlete, along the walls of the Memorial which bears the names of almost 10,800 Australian soldiers who were reporting Missing in Action on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918.

Floriane Bormans at the top of the Memorial Tower with the Olympic Torch — The Torch was then carried to the top of the Memorial, looking over the Picardy countryside.

The torchbearers alongside the various officials present in front of the memorial — Back on the ground, the four torchbearers - Adèle Lelong, Rémi Chossinand, Athos Felemou and Floriane Bormans gathered to meet the various key figures who had come to watch the relay. Among them were the Australian Ambassador to France, Her Excellency Ms Gillian Bird, the Prefect of the Somme, Mr Rollon Mouchel-Blaisot, the Mayors of Villers-Bretonneux and Fouilloy, Mr Didier Dinouard and Mr Yves Ducroq, and the Director of the Sir John Monash Centre, Mr Ben Daetwyler - © Thomas Capiaux CWGC

Torchbearer Adèle Lelong and other torchbearers in front of the Memorial tower.

A man wearing the uniform of British soldiers in the First World War facing the cemetery.

A view of the Australian National Memorial — © Thomas Capiaux CWGC

The Australian National Memorial was not the only landmark in the Somme to be highlighted that day. Abbeville, Albert, Doullens, Saint-Valery-Sur-Somme and la Chaussée-Tirancourt were also chosen to receive the relay. The relay through the Somme ended in Amiens, at the Jules Verne Circus, where the cauldron of the Games was lit.

The Olympic Torch Relay will end on 26 July for the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris, on the Seine Canal.