With 50 days to the Olympic Games, the Olympic Rings adorn the Eiffel Tower
07 June 2024 – In under 50 days, the eyes of the world will be on Paris and France as they host the 3rd Summer Games in their history, 100 years on. With less than two months to go before the event, the Host City continues to put on the Games colours, with the Olympic Rings being installed on the Eiffel Tower early this morning.
“In the world of the Games, we call these giant Rings “Spectaculars”, and I can’t think of anything more spectacular than the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is Paris, it’s the face of France. We wanted to offer a sight to remember,” says Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024.
Each edition of the Games sees the Olympic Rings placed in an iconic location of the host city: Tower Bridge in London in 2012, Madureira Park in Rio in 2016, Odaiba Bay in Tokyo in 2021.
With these Olympic Rings, the Eiffel Tower will become even more central to the Paris 2024 Games. The Eiffel Tower will be the setting for competitions at the Eiffel Tower Stadium (beach volleyball), the Arena Champ de Mars (judo, wrestling) and the Pont d’Iéna (road cycling). The ‘Iron Lady’ will also be at the heart of the celebrations for the Games’ champions, as the backdrop to the Champions’ Park at the Trocadéro. The Tower also inspired the design of the podiums and the medals, each containing a piece of its original iron.
During the night of 6 to 7 June, teams from ArcelorMittal, a Paris 2024 Official Partner, worked together with the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (The Eiffel Tower Operating Company) and Paris 2024 to carry out this high-precision assembly on the monument. Four cranes were necessary to hoist these gigantic Olympic Rings (29 metres wide and 13 metres high), and around thirty people were mobilised.
Today, less than 50 days before the Games, the symbol of the Games adorns the symbol of France and Paris.