France's most-decorated track athlete Marie-Jose Perec and three-time Olympic gold medal-winning judoka Teddy Riner jointly lit the Paris Olympics cauldron on Friday.

Perec and Riner strode up to the cauldron which formed the base of a hot air balloon in the Tuileries Gardens after it had been transported from the ceremony at the Eiffel Tower by boat and by a succession of French sports figures.