The Olympic rings have been hanging since the night of Thursday to Friday at the Eiffel Tower, 49 days before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Rings made of recycled steel which were designed, in part, on the Arcelor Mittal sites in Dunkirk and Denain.
We cannot hide our pride at the Arcelor Mittal site in Dunkirk, which has 3,300 employees. On November 14, the steel used to make the giant Olympic rings was rolled there: “the steel is initially produced in the form of large blocks, produced in France, on the Arcelor Mittal sites in Le Creusot and Chateauneuf (Loire), explains Gwendola Herman, head of the continuous hot train department at Arcelor Mittal Dunkerque. They were reheated in our ovens to 1,250°. Then the steel is rolled using hot rolling stands, like rolling pins to reduce the thickness of the product.”. The steel comes out with thicknesses ranging from 1.5mm to 15mm, wound on huge coils before being cut at the Arcelor site in Denain.
ArceA confidential project
This production was carried out in the greatest secrecy. No employee of the workshop concerned was aware of the final destination of this steel. “The project was confidentialsays Gwendola Herman. We only knew that the project was secret. When we found out later that it was for the Olympic rings, it was a great Source of pride for us to know that our steel would be visible to everyone.”. These assembled rings measure 29 meters long and 13 meters high and weigh 30 tonnes. They will be lit, by day with the Olympic colors and by night, in white, by “100,000 LEDs which will consume as much as a few irons”, specifies a Source within the team which designed this giant meccano made from recycled steel.
