Paris 2024 Olympics emblem sparks comparisons to Tinder logo, ‘Fleabag’ star
PARIS - The emblem for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 was revealed Monday, and the organizing committee says the emblem “brings together three iconic symbols connected to sport, the Games and France” — but many people weren’t super enthused about the design.
The logo incorporates symbols that represent a gold medal, the Olympic flame and Marianne, the symbol of France, depicted in the logo with a small pair of cartoonish lips.
The design was posted to the Paris2024 Instagram account Monday.
Many social media users couldn’t help but notice that the design looked a bit like the logo of the dating app, Tinder.
One user created an entire thread of female icons who look vaguely like the logo.
Sian Clifford, an actress on the Emmy Award-winning BBC and Amazon comedy-drama “Fleabag,” even jumped into the conversation after many people tagged her on Twitter saying it looked like her.
To reveal the design, 700 runners — led by Olympic and Paralympic medalists — ran different routes around the center of Paris and Saint-Seine-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, forming the outline of the new Paris 2024 emblem. After the display from the runners, the emblem was revealed on a massive screen at Paris’ Grand Rex Cinema at the symbolic time of precisely 20hr24 on Monday.
Social media users may not have fully appreciated the logo, but the three-part design is steeped in significant meaning.
The gold circle, meant to symbolize a gold medal, represents one of the “core values of sport: striving for excellence.”
The flame represents the spirit and energy of the Games, which bring people from across the globe together and which drives progress.
“The Games will help improve the lives of the inhabitants of the Seine-Saint-Denis area by bequeathing useful infrastructure to them: eco-neighbourhoods, through the conversion of the athlete and media villages into housing, and the creation of local sports facilities, such as the Olympic Aquatics Centre,” the Olympic Organizing Committee said.
Finally, the small lips pay homage to the French national symbol, Marianne. Incorporating her face into the design is a tribute to female athletes as well as an honoring of feminist history — the 1900 Paris Olympic Games were the first in which women were allowed to compete.
“She embodies the revolutionary spirit that infuses the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. She encapsulates the desire to bring the competitions out of the stadium and into the heart of the city. A familiar figure who is everywhere in the everyday lives of French people, she is also a reminder that these Games will be Games for everyone, Games that will belong to the people,” the organizing committee said.
“I congratulate Paris 2024 on the launch of their new emblem,” said Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, International Olympic Committee Coordination Commission Chair for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. “It perfectly reflects their vision and desire to put people at the heart of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.”
This story was reported from Los Angeles.