Paris mayor wants to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower

Mayor Anne Hidalgo is pushing to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower. She also wants to keep the hot air balloon that lifted the Olympic cauldron into the sky during the Games.

“We have built and then lived and shared a historic moment,” she told local news outlet Ouest-France. “I want this festive spirit to remain!”

The proposals, though, have elicited logistical, legal and cultural objections — including from the descendants of the tower’s creator, French engineer Gustave Eiffel. The problem is not about keeping Olympic emblems, critics say, but about changing a signature of Parisian architectural history.

“You can’t disfigure the Eiffel Tower by giving it a sense that isn’t its own,” said Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel, Eiffel’s great-great-great-grandson and president of the Association of the Descendants of Gustave Eiffel.

The IOC said in an email that it “warmly welcomes” the intention to “make the legacy of the sensational Olympic Games Paris 2024 accessible to as many people as possible,” including by keeping the rings on the Eiffel Tower. It said it was “supporting this initiative by conducting a feasibility study,” with results expected in the coming months.

The 30-ton version of the logo there now would be too heavy to safely withstand winter winds, and Hidalgo said she envisions replacing it with a lighter reproduction.

Caption written from original article by Juliette Fekkar and Ellen Francis

[bladfadsfblaadsfsadf]

Keep the rings, but take them off the tower and make a new display in the same park. Problem solved!

[pandastaubball]

"The Eiffel tower was originally introduced in the 1889 Worlds Fair"
Yes and do you see a big Worlds Fair sign on it?

[bertdog]

“Sir, there’s been a second Great-great-great grandson”

[redshoesplays]

Why does JD Vance care about the Eiffel tower?

[jacktaylor]

The Eiffel Tower was ment to be temporary during the world fair and it was hated by the local, it was after the fair they decided to keep it as the locals started to like it and found it useful for a radio tower.

[FullCircleBricks]

I still find the forced inclusion of the bulletin board in like every short to be absolutely hilarious.

[Ben-Jamin]

Why is no one talking about the marvel movie joke. That fit in there way too well.

[greZerg]

As a French (and Parisian until recently), it feels dumb to keep the rings, because the Olympics are over, and the Eiffel Tower acts pretty much as a display… the Olympic rings are not ours, it feels as if we’d capture their meaning somehow.

Let’s keep the balloon thing though, it’s great and has further meaning that is our own (the balloon is set up at the exact point the Montgolfier brothers took off in the first hot air balloon).

[MaNu]

For context, this is one of the only, if not the only, event organised by the mayor of Paris that wasn't disastrous. That's why she wants to keep a souvenir.

[strangelyukrainian]

To be fair, the Eiffel Tower wasn’t mean to be permanent either

[Gulocide]

He didn't want to keep the rings, it was his pitch to cover the fact he didn't want to have to pay to have them removed.
Was probably hoping to pocket that money and go on a cruise.

[IngridBruinsma]

Make it an illusion. Put the rings somewhere else, same height blabla. There will be a watchpoint and from over there it will look like the rings are still attached on the Eifeltower

[tguo]

i like how there’s just a sound that radiates off the descendants of gustav eifel

[slwtdvy]

"BUT THATS THE BIGGEST EVENT OF MY CAREER"

[dominiklehn]

"It has been used as a billboard before" yes. Temporarily. Not tgat many people were upset the rings were put up, but they are upset that you want them to stay forever

[parsnipguy]

That’s like refusing to take off Christmas decorations until Halloween…

[dranaugh]

Fun-fact: Savin Yeatman-Eiffel created the Anime: Obán Star Racers

[olgierdvoneverec]

“That wasn’t designed as a permanent feature”

Neither was the tower.

[basicallyeverything]

Paris Olympics: *People poop in the river, swimmers get sick, and several different scandals happen. *

France: "After all... why not? Why shouldn't I keep it?"

[kkzwjot]

Pronunciation tip: say it like "Gustav" not "Gustav-ay". It's the e acute (é) in French that gives the "ay" sound. Without it, café would be "caff".