U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles rang it after winning a gold medal in the men’s 100-meter final. So did the United States women’s rugby sevens team after winning an unprecedented bronze medal.
The large bell stationed at Stade de France, which hosts track and field events and rugby sevens, has become an instant hit at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with athletes hoping to have their chance to ring in the new Paris tradition after earning a gold medal.
The bell is engraved with ‘2024 Paris,’ and will continue to be a part of the city’s history in the time following the 2024 Games.
Fans have wondered what the bell’s importance is, and why so many Olympic athletes have gravitated toward it after finishing their respective events. The bell has plenty of history, especially going forward.
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Here’s everything to know about the track and field bell at the 2024 Paris Olympics:
Why do athletes ring a bell at 2024 Paris Olympics?
The bell was created ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and serves a unique purpose moving forward in Paris’ history.
The bell, which was cast in the same forge as the new Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral bells, will be hung up at the renovated Cathedral following the monument’s renovations. The cathedral is set to open in December for the first time in over five years after a fire struck one of the world’s most well-known monuments.
One of the bells, which is being stationed at the Olympics, is meant to serve as a time capsule for the world’s largest sporting event, according to NBC.
‘In a way, Paris 2024 is helping to rebuild Notre-Dame,’ saidPierre-Andre Lacout, a manager at Stade de France. ‘A part of the Games and the Olympic spirit will remain in Notre-Dame for life.’
The tradition started at the beginning of the Games, with winners of each rugby sevens match getting a chance to ring the bell. However, only gold medalists can ring the bell after track and field competitions.
The bell was created at the Fonderie Cornille Havard in Villedieu-les-Poeles-Rouffigny in Normandy, France. The Notre-Dame Cathedral had several bells destroyed in the fire. The Olympic bell will replace one of the two smaller bells used at the cathedral once it reopens.
Leslie Dufaux, the 2024 Paris Games’ head of sports presentation, told The Washington Post the idea came from the Games needing something unique to Paris for some of the venues, and with Paris’ prominent church scene, a bell seemed like a great idea.
She then reached out to the foundry in Normandy, which she realized was making the bells for the renovated Notre-Dame.
“Then I thought: ‘Oh my goodness, they are doing the bells on Notre-Dame, and what are we going to do with this bell after the Olympics and Paralympics? Dufaux said. ‘Because we are thinking about the second life of each item we are producing for the Games.’
