Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo proudly announced that “Paris will never be the same again” after the Olympics and Paralympic games came to the city, leaving behind a hopeful legacy. This is why Hidalgo has decided the Olympic Rings are to remain on the Eiffel Tower.
The Mayor says that she has the “green light” from the International Olympic Committee, and it is a way to preserve the festive spirit of the Olympics in Paris.
Mayor Hidalgo explained, “The French have fallen in love with Paris again, that makes me happy. After years of bashing telling us that it was going to be hell. Hating Paris, some had even made it their business.”
The legacy of the Paris Olympics
Anne Hidalgo maintains that, for Parisians, the Games were incredibly significant. Swimming in the Seine, public transport, and the physical materials that adorned the city during the Games are seen as a way to preserve and honor the legacy of the Olympics in the city of which Parisians are proud.
It is unclear if this spirit will last in Paris. Mayor Hidalgo, however, is rather convinced that it will. She stated that preserving this legacy by, for instance, leaving the rings on the Eiffel Tower will help remind the country that Paris and Parisians are no longer a caricature and instead are now rather connected with the rest of the country.
The decision to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower has sparked backlash
Nonetheless, not everyone in Paris agrees with Mayor Hidalgo. For instance, heritage campaigners have stated that leaving the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower is a bad idea and it would defile the monument.
The five Olympic rings that were installed on the Eiffel Tower are a staggering 29 meters wide and 15 meters high and weigh close to 30 tons. If the rings are to remain, they will have to be replaced with lighter ones because they are too heavy for the iconic building to sustain over a prolonged period of time.
Backlash for Mayor Hidalgo’s decisions has only increased over the last few weeks. The Association of Descendants of Gustave Eiffel, which consists of 70 living descendants of the legendary architect put out a press release slamming the decision.
In the statement, the association said, “It does not seem appropriate to us, that the Eiffel Tower, a historical symbol of Paris and France, should be permanently associated with an external organization in a lasting way, whatever its prestige.”
Some of the harshest critics have said this is merely an attempt by Anne Hidalgo to use the most famous monument in France to remind the world she hosted the Paris Olympic Games.
