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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo refined her comments on the Olympic Rings remaining – or re-installed – on the Eiffel Tower at a news conference last week, explaining:
“The proposal that I have made for the Rings … is a proposal that until 2028, until the Games in Los Angeles, we will leave the Rings on the Eiffel Tower.
“Perhaps after 2028, they’ll stay and maybe they won’t. Let’s see.”
The Olympic Rings are, of course, the property of the International Olympic Committee, which is fine with the idea of maintaining its symbol on one of the world’s most famous monuments.
However, the current version of the Rings is too heavy for the long term and the IOC is funding a study for a lighter version to be made and installed. The IOC could end up paying for the new set and the installation costs.
Although her decision on the Rings has been controversial, Hidalgo said she has the authority to make the determination herself. She was elected as Mayor in 2014 and re-elected in 2020; the next election is in 2026.
Hidalgo also responded to the call from the International Paralympic Committee to have its logo, the three Agitos, maintained in Paris. Currently on the Arc de Triomphe – the first symbol to ever adorn the monument – it will be moved, Hidalgo said, to another location, midway on the famed Champs-Elysees avenue in the center of Paris.
The Paris Mayor said Saturday that a sports facility in the city will be named for Rebecca Cheptegei, the Ugandan women’s marathoner – 44th in the Olympic marathon in 2024 – who was horrifically burned and eventually died on Thursday (5th).Said Hidalgo:
“She dazzled us here in Paris. We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her freedom, and it was in all likelihood her beauty, strength and freedom which were intolerable for the person who committed this murder.
“Paris will not forget her. We’ll dedicate a sports venue to her so that her memory and her story remains among us and helps carry the message of equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Cheptegei was doused with gasoline and set afire by what has been described as a current or former partner, who waited for her in her home and attacked upon her return from church on Sunday (1st). She suffered burns over 75-80% of her body and leaves behind two children.
Paris’ summer of sport will end on Sunday with the close of the XVII Paralympic Games.
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