At the Stade de France, each winner of an Olympic event celebrates his victory by ringing a bell installed at the edge of the track. This ritual highlights the lap of honor that the athletes do at the end of each final, carrying their country's flag on their shoulders.
The bell will not remain at the Stade de France. It will be installed in the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral, so that "the sound of Olympic victory will be heard in the city for decades to come," the commentator of the events explained.
This gesture by the athletes was requested by the Olympic Games Organizing Committee (Cojo), as were the three symbolically struck at the start of each sports session. The bronze bell, weighing 500 kg, was ordered by the Cojo from the Cornille Havard foundry, located in Villedieu-les-Poêles-Rouffigny, in the Manche department. It was this same company that restored the cathedral bells.
The bell is engraved with the Olympic rings and the words "Paris 2024". It is in a metal frame, purple in colour, like the track. By offering this bell to the cathedral, "Paris 2024 is contributing, in a certain way, to the reconstruction of Notre-Dame. Part of the Games and the Olympic spirit will remain at Notre-Dame for life", explains Pierre-André Lacout, the manager of the Stade de France during the Games, on the Cojo website. After the Paralympic Games, the bell is to be coupled with two others to be installed in one of the cathedral's towers, before its reopening scheduled for December 8. They will join the other historic bells, the oldest of which, the "bourdon", dates from 1683.
Source: La Croix Int.
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