Eiffel Tower gets olympic rings display for 2024 games

PARIS

The Paris Olympics organizers on Friday unveiled a display of the five Olympic rings mounted on the Eiffel Tower as the French capital marks 50 days until the start of the Summer Games.

The structure of rings, made of recycled French steel, will be displayed on the south side of the 135-year-old landmark in central Paris, overlooking the Seine River.

There will be no shortage of iconic venues at the Paris Olympics.

The tower, nicknamed La Dame de Fer (The Iron Lady), will feature prominently in the July 26-Aug. 11 Paris Games and the following Paralympics.

Men’s and women’s volleyball players will compete at the foot of the 330-meter (1,083-foot) monument. They will be watched by nearly 13,000 fans at the temporary Eiffel Tower Stadium on the nearby Champ de Mars, where Parisians and tourists like to have picnics on the grass or watch July 14 firework displays.

The Olympic and Paralympic medals in Paris are being embedded with pieces from a hexagonal chunk of iron taken from the tower.

The hugely popular landmark in central Paris has seen soaring visitor numbers in the leadup to the 2024 Games.