These Olympic Gold Medalists Get to Ring a Bell Bound for Notre-Dame

At the Paris Olympics, some track and field athletes have a unique opportunity: When they win gold medals or break records, they are brought to a large bell and asked to ring it in celebration. After the Olympics and Paralympics conclude, the bell will go to Notre-Dame Cathedral, where it will ring again during mass and prayer services.

The new bell will be a symbolic addition to Notre-Dame’s long recovery: Since a devastating fire damaged the church in 2019, workers have been conducting a years-long restoration effort. The Gothic landmark is scheduled to reopen on December 8.

“Notre-Dame is definitely with us,” Leslie Dufaux, head of Paris 2024’s sports presentation, tells the Washington Post’s Les Carpenter. “Now we are going to set one of the main assets of the Games in Notre-Dame’s next life.”

Dufaux’s role involves adding homages to French culture at each of the Olympic venues. As such, she decided to add a bell to the Stade de France, a stadium located just outside the city. Only a select few would get the chance to ring it.

“It’s just for the gold medalists,” Tony Estanguet, an organizer for the Paris Games, told the Associated Press’ Eddie Pells earlier this month. “It’s a great way for them to celebrate.”

After Dufaux settled on the bell idea, she contacted the Cornille Havard Bell Foundry in Normandy, which had made nine new bells for Notre-Dame about a decade ago. As it happened, the facility was also making new bells for the cathedral’s restoration. An idea dawned: Maybe the bell commissioned for the Stade de France could have a second life.

Dufaux contacted Laurent Prades, Notre-Dame’s general manager, and asked him if the cathedral could accept the bell once it completed its Olympic duties. Prades explained that he was planning to add three bells to the church, each measuring two feet wide and two feet tall—the dimensions Dufaux was already considering.

Initially, Prades had some reservations about accepting the “sports bell,” as he tells the Washington Post. “My first reflection was that this bell is going to ring during prayer services and mass, and that is very different from what [it’s] being used [for] now.” But the idea grew on him. After all, the year 2024 was linked with both the Games and the cathedral’s reopening. “[The bell is] a symbol of peace and fraternity during the Olympics, which is what Notre-Dame is exactly about, also,” he adds.

The finished bell is engraved with the Paris 2024 emblem. (The Olympic rings are absent, as officials don’t allow the symbol to be used once the Games wrap up.) Each time an athlete triumphs, its chimes ring out to a stadium full of roaring fans.

“To get to ring that bell, it really is your moment,” Keely Hodgkinson, a British runner who won the women’s 800-meter gold, tells Kelly Holmes of Talksport, a U.K. radio station. “I forgot I would be able to do that, so that was really cool.”

Notre-Dame’s reopening will also be surrounded by celebration. Parisians will once again be able to step inside one of their most beloved landmarks, with the Olympic bell installed in one of its tall bell towers.

“In a way, Paris 2024 is helping to rebuild Notre-Dame,” Pierre-André Lacout, a manager at the Stade de France, tells NBC Olympics’ Stephanie De Lancey. “A part of the Games and the Olympic spirit will remain in Notre-Dame for life.”

Sonja Anderson | READ MORE

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in New York City.