French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the stadium on Wednesday, posted a selfie video from the top row of the stands overlooking the Eiffel Tower | Representative Image
Lena Von Schonlaub used the Eiffel Tower stadium as a backdrop for her own photoshoot.
Von Schonlaub moved her head from side to side, smiling broadly as she held her phone up to her face and clicked over and over. Paris’ iconic Eiffel Tower hovered just behind her, overlooking the beach volleyball venue for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
It is one of the most popular attractions of the Olympic Games, attracting hundreds of people looking for the best photo to post on their social media pages. The perfect setting for a digital age.
“I think it’s the most beautiful location you can have,” said Von Schonlaub, who traveled to Paris from Munich, Germany. “It’s Instagrammable.”
The sand and upbeat DJ music always give beach volleyball a party feel. The sport has been played at many iconic locations, including Copacabana Beach during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where beach volleyball is very popular.
But for many athletes and visitors, the Eiffel Tower Stadium is an unparalleled setting.
The 13,000-seat stadium was built especially for the Olympic Games on the Champ de Mars, a garden where Parisians and tourists usually sit on the grass for a picnic or a fireworks show on July 14.
Normally this place attracts hundreds of people, but since the start of the Olympics people have been buying tickets for beach volleyball matches, so they can squeeze through the crowds and take the perfect selfies and videos with the tower and the sand in the background.
“We don’t really follow beach volleyball, but we wanted to see the spot with the Eiffel Tower,” said Solene Naeye, a local Parisian who came to the spot for photos. She took in her surroundings and noticed the beauty of the moment.
“It’s a way for us French to rediscover our city, so that’s really nice.”
Matt Knigge, a substitute for the U.S. men’s indoor volleyball team, came to the stadium on his night off from practice Sunday. Knigge, from California, has traveled far and wide to play volleyball, but said he’s never seen such an “emblematic” venue.
“It will be hard to find anything more beautiful than what we have now,” he said, pointing to the tower.
“The sun is setting in the background. I think if you were to write a fairy tale about beach volleyball at the Olympics, this would be it.”
He took pictures of himself with his digital camera, then asked a stadium employee to take a picture of him, hoping for the best possible angle, then took a few more with his phone.
“In the age of social media and people marketing based on social media, this is it,” Knigge said, gesturing around. “They did it. They achieved it.”
According to TikTok, the Eiffel Tower location tag was posted on the app more than 80,000 times on Sunday, and the beach volleyball hashtag around 88,900.
Athletes from all sports at the Games have come here. French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the stadium on Wednesday, posted a selfie video from the top row of the stands overlooking the Eiffel Tower.
American collegiate gymnast and social media influencer Olivia Dunne was out Saturday night taking some photos for all her socials. She shared a video with her 8 million followers on TikTok, and photos on her Instagram stories.
Her TikTok post, which showed her standing right in front of the Eiffel Tower, had been viewed 1.6 million times and had more than 173,000 likes just 23 hours later.
Around 10pm on Sunday night, the lights in the stadium dimmed. The tower lit up. Orange streaks colored the blue sky. Suddenly, the tower began to twinkle and everyone oohed and ahed in unison. They all held up their phones, the same image was shown thousands of times throughout the venue.
“I’m definitely going to post on Instagram,” said Kaden Augustine of St. Louis, Missouri, standing next to his brother Kanen, in matching American flag jumpsuits. “Just because it’s so beautiful here.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: Jul 29, 2024 | 10:06 PM IST