Eiffel Family Staunchly Opposes Plan for the Olympic Rings

The Summer Olympics will next occur in 2028, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants to hang on to the last vestiges of its Olympic presence until at least then. CBS News reports she has announced her intentions to keep the multicolored Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower where they currently hang—a move Gustave Eiffel's descendants are fiercely against. While the family association AGDE says it is comfortable with the rings remaining on the monument until the end of 2024, "which marks the end of the Olympic year," AGDE has spoken to lawyers about how to prevent the rings from staying there any longer.

The BBC reports Hidalgo was unequivocal in announcing the planned move in a late August interview, saying, "The decision is up to me, and I have the agreement of the IOC [International Olympic Committee]. So yes, they [the rings] will stay on the Eiffel Tower." In her view, "the French have fallen in love with Paris again" thanks to the Games, and she wants "this festive spirit to remain." Hidalgo added that the 95-foot-wide rings, which weigh 33 tons, would be swapped out for a lighter version.

Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel, a great-great-grandson of Gustave Eiffel, tells Politico this marks the first time the family has publicly opposed a tower-related plan. In the family's view, the rings create "a strong imbalance" in the tower's shape, "substantially modifying the very pure forms of the monument," which is owned by the city of Paris. Their presence also degrades "the neutrality and meaning acquired over the years by the Eiffel Tower," they argue. "We do not think it appropriate that the Eiffel Tower ... should be permanently associated with an external organization, whatever its prestige," they added, per CNN.

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The descendants aren't the only critics of the plan. Julien Lacaze, the head of France's oldest heritage defense association, took a swing at Hidalgo, telling Politico, "Contrary to what she says, she is not the only one who decides." He framed the decision as self-serving, suggesting Hidalgo is trying to "take advantage of [the tower's] fame ... to say these are my Games." (More Eiffel Tower stories.)