They oppose the idea of the Paris town hall to replace the rings with another structure supposed to remain hanging until the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
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Putting the Olympic rings back on the Eiffel Tower is the “transform into an advertising billboard”denounces, Friday September 27 on franceinfo, Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel, great-great-great-grandson of the famous engineer and president of the Association of Descendants of Gustave Eiffel (ADGE). The symbol of Olympism hung on the Iron Lady for the Paris 2024 Games was finally taken down during the night from Thursday to Friday. Another structure, lighter and more resistant, must be installed there to remain there until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
“It doesn’t respect the work”deplores Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel. He and the other descendants of Gustave Eiffel feel like they are doing “donation to the IOC of this advertising medium which is global”. “We are legitimate as holders of moral rights over the preservation of the monument as such”underlines the president of ADGE.
Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel expresses doubts about the replacement of “rings that experienced the Games”which must be melted, “by a sort of ersatz that we put on the Eiffel Tower”. The Iron Lady is not classified, but listed as a historic monument. “The protection is essentially the same”explains the descendant of Gustave Eiffel. “We cannot put advertising on a historic monument unless we demolish it”he recalls.
The ADGE claims to have sent a letter to the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, to meet her and discuss the situation of the Olympic rings. “We haven’t had an answer, but the door remains open”affirms Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel who prohibits himself “a little bit of controversy”specifying that the association has “always had good relationships” with the Paris town hall.