The timing could have been more perfect. But it doesn't matter, the main thing is elsewhere. 49 days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, Paris has been displaying the five Olympic rings since very early this Friday morning. Obviously, they were hung on the Eiffel Tower, facing the Seine.
Started two years ago by a long reflection between the OCOG Paris 2024, the Société d'exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) and ArcelorMittal, the French company partner of the organizing committee, the operation was preceded by a phase of eight-month production. The installation was completed in one night. Less than two hours for installation, then patient work of connections, tests and verifications.
The result is impressive. The five rings, each 9 m in diameter, stand between the first and second floors of the monument, approximately 70 m from the ground. The whole has extraordinary dimensions: 29 m wide, 13 m high. Total weight: around thirty tonnes.
«They will float in the air », image Pierre Engel, the project manager at ArcelorMittal, to explain that the attachment structures were wanted to be as discreet as possible. The rings will be permanently lit, thanks to nearly 100.000 LEDs. But the device will be different during the day, where they will appear in their usual five colors, and during the night, where the rings will all have the same white tint.
The Olympic rings will remain attached to the Eiffel Tower until the end of the Paralympic Games (August 28 to September 8). They will soon be joined by the agitos, symbol of the Paralympic movement, installed in another iconic place in the French capital. Or ? When ? Mystery. The OCOG Paris 2024 still wants to keep the element of surprise.
