Sawt Falasteen - Reinvented Olympic balloon makes Paris comeback

During the Paris Games, the Olympic cauldron tethered to a balloon flew into the Parisian sky at sunset every day, with thousands flocking to see the seven-metre (23 feet) wide ring of environmentally friendly fire.

On Thursday evening, President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo visited the Tuileries Garden near the Louvre, where workers were installing the redesigned balloon and ring.

"We are going to relive this!" a beaming Macron said in a video posted on X.

The balloon, which will no longer carry the Olympic branding, will take to the skies on June 21 during France's annual Fete de la Musique festival of street music.

It will be accessible to visitors every summer evening from June 21 to September 14 for the next three years, until the next edition of the Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

Its flame made up of clouds of mist lit by LED rays will remain the same.

The flame is still "100 percent electric", according to Pierre Viriot, communications director at state-owned power utility EDF.

But unlike last year, it will be turned off at night.

The reconstruction of the balloon and the ring has been financed by the Olympic Organising Committee and EDF.

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST