Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has triggered a heated debate by saying she wants to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower after the Summer Games are over.
“The decision is up to me, and I have the agreement of the IOC [International Olympic Committee],” she told the Ouest-France newspaper over the weekend. “So yes, they [the rings] will stay on the Eiffel Tower,” she added.
She added that the current rings – each one measuring 9m in diameter – were too heavy and would be replaced by a lighter version at some point.
Not so fast.
Many Parisians disagree, saying they want the original Eiffel Tower back.
“It’s a historic monument, why defile it with rings? It was good for the Olympics but now it’s over, we can move on, maybe we should remove them and return the Eiffel Tower to how it was before,”said one social media post.
Even the Eiffel family has weighed in, saying,
“We do not think it appropriate that the Eiffel Tower… should be permanently associated with an external organization, whatever its prestige.”
“I think it’s an eyesore,” one said, adding that although the rings bring “something different,” the Eiffel Tower is not a landmark that “needs to change.”