The five Olympic rings will sit on the Eiffel Tower this spring in preparation for the Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11), the monument’s operating company (Sete) and the Paris organizing committee told AFP on Monday. -2024, confirming information from Le Parisien.
The Eiffel Tower will also be present on 24 million two-euro commemorative coins
The rings representing the five continents, symbols of the universality of sport, will be installed high up, on the Seine side, said Jean-François Martins, president of Sete. Their installation should begin at the end of April, he continued. The Olympic rings, displayed at each edition of the Games on an emblematic monument of the host city, will thus be at the forefront of the opening ceremony, organized in a unique way outside the stadium, in the form of a nautical parade on the Seine.
In total, 180 boats, 94 of which will transport the athletes, will parade between the Pont d’Austerlitz and the Pont d’Iéna, just in front of the Iron Lady. The Olympic cauldron which will host the Olympic flame will be installed in the Jardin des Tuileries, a park accessible to the public located between the Louvre Palace and Place de la Concorde.
Symbol of Paris and France, the Eiffel Tower is one of the most visited monuments in the world. In 2023, with 6.3 million visitors, it has exceeded its attendance levels before the Covid-19 pandemic. Last February, however, the tower was closed for six days by a strike by staff unhappy with the management of the site, depriving around a hundred thousand people of visits. The Eiffel Tower will also be present on 24 million two-euro coins commemorating the 2024 Olympic Games, which the Paris Mint will put into circulation in June.