Berger-Volle lived in the shadows during the Occupation from 1940 to 1944, but she couldn't contain her excitement when she learned that she would have the honour of carrying the torch through Saint-Etienne on 22 June on its way to Paris for the opening ceremony of Paris 2024.

"I have always loved sport. My ideal has always been to unite the world, and the Olympic Games are a wonderful opportunity to get to know other people," said Berger-Volle said.

In addition to her granddaughter Emilie Volle's participation in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Melanie Berger-Volle wants to symbolise the perseverance of women "who have fought to be able to do sports like men," she told AFP.

Born into a working-class Jewish family in Austria in 1921, Melanie Berger began her activism as a teenager in a left-wing group. Fleeing the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, she disguised herself as a boy and arrived in Paris in the spring of 1939. "We were atheists. I didn't start fighting for religious reasons, but for political reasons. I'm against all dictatorships," she said.

During France's wartime mobilisation, Melanie, along with other Austrians, came under suspicion and was sent to a camp near Pau. She managed to escape at Clermont-Ferrand station, acting alone as her companions were reluctant to join her. "They weren't political, they didn't know what a camp was. When you have the chance, you don't miss it," she insisted.

In January 1942, Melanie's freedom came to an abrupt end when the police raided her home, leading to her arrest and harsh interrogation. Despite narrowly escaping the death penalty, the 22-year-old was imprisoned in Toulouse for 13 months before being transferred to the Baumettes prison in Marseille.

"I was mistreated, men beat me. The consequences are still with me. But I'm still here," she told AFP. On 15 October 1943 they came for her, accompanied by a German soldier who had taken over her mission and found her in the middle of a battle with jaundice in the confines of the hospital. "I escaped in my nightdress," she laughs.

After the war, she married Lucien Volle, another Resistance fighter who took part in the liberation of Le Puy-en-Velay. Together, they devoted themselves to remembrance efforts, which led to her receiving several honours, including the Legion d'Honneur.

"We fought constantly to explain. Not what we had done, but why we had done it. I didn't do much. But I said "no" to Nazism," Berger-Volle said. Even in her later years, she remains determined to get her message across through the Olympics: "I wanted to change the world and I still want to change it," she concluded with a smile.