Paris

American rapper Snoop Dogg will be among the torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame in the final stretch before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games on Friday.

Snoop Dogg, 52, will carry the torch through the streets of Saint-Denis, the underprivileged northern Paris suburb that is home to the Stade de France Olympic Stadium, the town's mayor Mathieu Hanotin said on social media platform X.

"Saint Denis: last step before the Eiffel Tower. An international cast @SnoopDogg for the last stretch of the Olympic Flame," Hanotin wrote.

The rapper, who is also contributing to NBC Primetime's coverage of Games, is better known in the sports world for his Snoop Youth Football League. The championship game is called the "Snooper Bowl".

Other carriers of the torch in Saint-Denis on Friday include French actress Laetitia Casta and French rapper MC Solaar.

Murray to retire

Elsewhere, Briton Andy Murray, the first male tennis player to claim two Olympic singles gold medals, said on Tuesday that he will play the final event of his glittering career at the Paris Games before heading into retirement.

Murray, widely regarded as one of Britain's all-time great sportsmen, won gold in London 2012 beating Roger Federer in the final and successfully defended his title in Rio four years later defeating Juan Martin del Potro.

The 37-year-old, who in 2013 ended a 77-year wait for a British men's singles champion at Wimbledon and won the trophy again in 2016, had previously said that he was unlikely to continue his career beyond this year.

"Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament @Olympics," Murray said on social media, alongside a picture of himself on the Rio podium.

"Competing for Britain has been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I'm extremely proud to get to do it one final time."

The injury-plagued Murray received a star-studded, emotional farewell earlier this month at Wimbledon, the venue where he won two of his three major titles, following a first-round doubles defeat partnering his brother Jamie.

The Scot, who had surgery on June 22 to remove a spinal cyst which was compressing his nerves and made him lose control and power in his right leg, decided he was not fit enough for the demands of singles competition at the All England Club.

Murray's hopes of a final hurrah partnering fellow former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu in mixed doubles at Wimbledon were dashed when she withdrew due to a wrist issue.

The tennis competition at the Olympics begins on July 27 and Murray, who made his Olympic debut in Beijing 2008, will play in both singles and doubles alongside Dan Evans in his fifth and final Games.

Murray has a mixed doubles silver from the London Games, where he partnered Laura Robson.

The former world number one resurrected his career after having hip-resurfacing surgery in 2019 but has struggled to make the latter stages of leading tournaments since and endured an ankle injury earlier this season in Miami.