What happened to the Olympic rings in the host cities?

Will the Olympic rings remain on the Eiffel Tower? Last Saturday, Anne Hidalgo affirmed that the symbol of the games will remain hoisted on the Iron Lady. “As mayor of Paris, the decision is up to me”she assured. Enough to provoke fervent opposition from several personalities, including the grandson of Gustave Eiffel himself. For her part, Rachida Dati tried to temper the ardor of the Parisian mayor by affirming that a work permit and an impact assessment were necessary before making any substantial changes to the Eiffel Tower, according to the heritage code. Have any host cities already kept their rings? The Figaro takes stock.

Countries that have kept the Olympic rings

Several countries have kept them in their Olympic facilities. Athens, for example, which hosted the Olympic Games in 1886 and 2004, kept them in the Panathenaic Stadium. Canada, too, which hosted the editions in 1976 and 2010. The rings have been kept at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal and at Whistler Park in Vancouver. Brazil’s rings are in Manaus, in the Arena Amazônia. Los Angeles, which has hosted the Games twice (three times with those in 2028), has kept its rings in the Memorial Coliseum.

Several cities have also reinstalled them later, such as Atlanta 22 years after its 1996 edition in Centennial Park, or Beijing (2008 Olympics), which built an Olympic Tower in 2011 and hoisted the rings to the summit five years later.

Boneless or sold on eBay: these countries have not kept the rings

France, which has hosted the Olympic Games five times (1900, 1924, 1969, 1992 and 2024) has never kept its rings until now. On the other hand, it has still kept some symbols. Notably in Chamonix (1924) with a sculpture representing the rings inaugurated for the centenary of the Games in the center of the town in 2024. And in Albertville, where drawn rings are visible at the exit of a toll booth.

As for the London Olympics, in England, the rings that were placed on Tower Bridge and at St. Pancras Station were stripped down and recycled. The English kept some of them to transform them into five colored benches, which are now located near the station.

Surprisingly, the giant rings that adorned the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the 2000 games were sold on eBay. While they measured 70 meters by 40 and weighed between 40 and 50 tons, they had been dismantled into about forty parts. Bernard Maas found them abandoned in a shed on his property after buying a factory in the state of New South Wales. This factory belonged to the company that had manufactured the rings. To his great surprise, however, 17 potential buyers had come forward. They were finally purchased for 21,100 Australian dollars, or 15,000 euros.