PARIS (AP) — Lena Von Schōnlaub used Eiffel Tower Stadium as a backdrop for her personal private picture shoot.
Von Schōnlaub shifted her head backward and forward, smiling large whereas she held her cellphone in entrance of her face and clicked time and again. Paris’ iconic Eiffel Tower hovered proper behind her, overlooking the location the place seashore volleyball is being performed on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
It has been one of the crucial widespread points of interest of the Olympics, drawing lots of of individuals in search of the perfect picture to put up on their social media pages. The right setting for a digital age.
“I feel it’s essentially the most lovely location you may have,” stated Von Schōnlaub, who traveled to Paris from Munich, Germany. “It’s Instagrammable.”
The sand and upbeat DJ music all the time give seashore volleyball the texture of a celebration. The game has been performed at loads of iconic websites, together with Copacabana Seaside on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the place seashore volleyball may be very widespread.
However for a lot of athletes and guests, Eiffel Tower Stadium is an unparalleled background.
The 13,000-seat stadium was constructed particularly for the Olympics at Champ de Mars, a backyard the place Parisians and vacationers usually sit on the grass for picnics or July 14 firework shows. The positioning attracts lots of of individuals on any common day, however because the begin of the Olympics, folks purchase tickets to seashore volleyball matches simply to squeeze by way of crowds of individuals for the right selfies and movies with the tower and sand within the background.
“We don’t actually observe seashore volleyball however we wished to see the location with the Eiffel Tower,” stated Solene Naeye, a neighborhood Parisian who got here to the spot for footage. She took in her environment and famous the great thing about the second. “It’s a method for us French folks to rediscover our metropolis, in order that’s very nice.”
Matt Knigge, an alternate with the U.S. males’s indoor volleyball staff, got here to the stadium on his night time off from coaching Sunday. Knigge, from California, has traveled throughout enjoying volleyball however stated he’s by no means seen such an “emblematic” location.
“You’re hard-pressed to search out something extra lovely than what we have now proper now,” he stated, pointing up on the tower. “The solar is setting within the background. I feel for those who had been writing a fairytale of seashore volleyball on the Olympics, that is it.”
He took photographs of himself along with his digital digicam, after which requested a stadium attendant to get a photograph of him, hoping for the perfect angle doable. Then he took just a few extra on his cellphone.
“Within the day and age of social media and other people advertising based mostly on social media, that is it,” Knigge stated whereas pointing round. “They’ve achieved it. They’ve achieved it.”
TikTok stated the Eiffel Tower location tag on its app had over 80,000 posts Sunday, with the seashore volleyball hashtag round 88,900.
Athletes from sports activities all throughout the Video games have come over. French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the stadium on Wednesday, posted a selfie video from the highest row of the stands going through the Eiffel Tower.
American school gymnast and social media influencer Olivia Dunne was there Saturday night time getting some photographs for all her socials. She shared a video along with her 8 million followers on TikTok, in addition to photographs on her Instagram tales. Her TikTok put up, throughout which she was standing proper in entrance of the Eiffel Tower, had 1.6 million views and greater than 173,000 likes solely 23 hours later.
Proper round 10 p.m. Sunday, the lights on the stadium dimmed. The tower lit up. Orange streaks painted the blue sky. Immediately, the tower started to sparkle and everybody “ooh’d” and “ah’d” in concord. All of them raised their telephones, the identical picture displayed 1000’s of occasions all through the venue.
“I’ll positively be making a put up on Instagram,” stated Kaden Augustine, of St. Louis, Missouri, standing subsequent to his brother, Kanen, in matching overalls displaying the U.S. flag. “Simply due to how fairly it’s right here.”
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AP Summer season Olympics:
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