Criticism over Olympic rings plan for Paris

The family of the Eiffel Tower's architect has pushed back against the Paris mayor's proposal to permanently install the Olympic rings on the iconic structure.

Gustave Eiffel's descendants have stated they "oppose any alteration that negatively impacts respect for the work" of their ancestor and added that they have already sought legal counsel to potentially block the plans proposed by Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.

Hidalgo wants to retain the giant Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower, which Parisians affectionately call the "Iron Lady", until at least the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

"As mayor of Paris, the decision is mine," Hidalgo said in an interview with the Ouest-France regional newspaper on the weekend." I want the spirit of celebration to remain. I'm delighted that the French have fallen in love with Paris again, after 10 years of bashing and telling us that (the Olympic Games) was going to be hell."

The massive ring structure, weighing 30 metric tons and measuring 29 meters by 13 meters, is too heavy to remain permanently on the Eiffel Tower, and Hidalgo's plan is to replace it with a more lightweight steel copy "as soon as possible", reported Agence France-Presse.

The descendants of Eiffel contend that the Olympic emblem is "colorful, large in size, placed on the main avenue of approach to the tower" and claimed it "creates a strong imbalance" in the structure's silhouette.

They argue that this addition significantly alters "the very pure forms of the monument".

Retaining the rings on the tower would go against "the neutrality and meaning acquired over the years by the Eiffel Tower, which has become the symbol of the city of Paris and even all of France across the world", the Association of Descendants of Gustave Eiffel, or AGDE, said in a statement on Sunday.

Hidalgo's comment that it was her decision alone was "incomprehensible", said Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel, Gustave's great-great grandson, who is president of the AGDE.

"Let the rings remain for a little longer than the Paralympic Games, why not? We have no problem with that," he said on Monday. "But the Eiffel Tower is not intended as an advertising platform. Anne Hidalgo should surely have said that she wanted to keep the Olympic rings and asked for the opinion of the Paris city council and other competent people, not that she had decided to do so."

Another of Eiffel's descendants, Savin Yeatman-Eiffel, suggested that keeping the rings in place would limit the tower's ability to support various causes and events, as it has done previously.

He told BFMTV: "The Eiffel Tower, which is a symbol of Paris and France, has a much broader vocation than being associated with an organization or concept like the Olympic Games."