Eiffel Tower Stadium at the 2024 Olympics is Becoming a Popular Backdrop for Selfies

It has been one of the most popular attractions of the Olympics, drawing hundreds of people looking for the best photo to post on their social media pages. The perfect setting for a digital age. - The AP
It has been one of the most popular attractions of the Olympics, drawing hundreds of people looking for the best photo to post on their social media pages. The perfect setting for a digital age. - The AP
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Eiffel Tower Stadium at the 2024 Olympics is Becoming a Popular Backdrop for Selfies

It has been one of the most popular attractions of the Olympics, drawing hundreds of people looking for the best photo to post on their social media pages. The perfect setting for a digital age. - The AP
It has been one of the most popular attractions of the Olympics, drawing hundreds of people looking for the best photo to post on their social media pages. The perfect setting for a digital age. - The AP

Lena Von Schōnlaub used Eiffel Tower Stadium as a backdrop for her own personal photo shoot.

Von Schōnlaub shifted her head from side to side, smiling big while she held her phone in front of her face and clicked over and over. Paris' iconic Eiffel Tower hovered right behind her, overlooking the site where beach volleyball is being played at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

It has been one of the most popular attractions of the Olympics, drawing hundreds of people looking for the best photo to post on their social media pages. The perfect setting for a digital age, according to The AP.

“I think it's the most beautiful location you can have," said Von Schōnlaub, who traveled to Paris from Munich, Germany. “It’s Instagrammable.”

The sand and upbeat DJ music always give beach volleyball the feel of a party. The sport has been played at plenty of iconic sites, including Copacabana Beach at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where beach volleyball is very popular.

But for many athletes and visitors, Eiffel Tower Stadium is an unparalleled background.

The 13,000-seat stadium was built specifically for the Olympics at Champ de Mars, a garden where Parisians and tourists typically sit on the grass for picnics or July 14 firework displays. The site draws hundreds of people on any regular day, but since the start of the Olympics, people buy tickets to beach volleyball matches just to squeeze through crowds of people for the perfect selfies and videos with the tower and sand in the background.

“We don't really follow beach volleyball but we wanted to see the site with the Eiffel Tower,” said Solene Naeye, a local Parisian who came to the spot for pictures. She took in her surroundings and noted the beauty of the moment. “It's a way for us French people to rediscover our city, so that's really nice.”

Matt Knigge, an alternate with the US men's indoor volleyball team, came to the stadium on his night off from training Sunday. Knigge, from California, has traveled all over playing volleyball but said he's never seen such an “emblematic” location.

"You're hard-pressed to find anything more beautiful than what we have right now," he said, pointing up at the tower. “The sun is setting in the background. I think if you were writing a fairytale of beach volleyball at the Olympics, this is it.”

He took photos of himself with his digital camera, and then asked a stadium attendant to get a photo of him, hoping for the best angle possible. Then he took a few more on his phone.

“In the day and age of social media and people marketing based on social media, this is it," Knigge said while pointing around. "They've done it. They've achieved it.”

TikTok said the Eiffel Tower location tag on its app had over 80,000 posts Sunday, with the beach volleyball hashtag around 88,900.

Athletes from sports all across the Games have come over. French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the stadium on Wednesday, posted a selfie video from the top row of the stands facing the Eiffel Tower.

American college gymnast and social media influencer Olivia Dunne was there Saturday night getting some shots for all her socials. She shared a video with her 8 million followers on TikTok, as well as photos on her Instagram stories. Her TikTok post, during which she was standing right in front of the Eiffel Tower, had 1.6 million views and more than 173,000 likes only 23 hours later.

Right around 10 p.m. Sunday, the lights at the stadium dimmed. The tower lit up. Orange streaks painted the blue sky. Suddenly, the tower began to glitter and everyone “ooh'd" and "ah’d” in harmony. They all raised their phones, the same image displayed thousands of times throughout the venue.

“I'll definitely be making a post on Instagram," said Kaden Augustine, of St. Louis, Missouri, standing next to his brother, Kanen, in matching overalls displaying the US flag. “Just because of how pretty it is here.”



India’s Monsoon Back on Track, Heatwave to Ease, Says Weather Officials 

School children use umbrellas to cover themselves from the rain as they walk to school, in New Delhi, India May 2, 2025. (Reuters)
School children use umbrellas to cover themselves from the rain as they walk to school, in New Delhi, India May 2, 2025. (Reuters)
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India’s Monsoon Back on Track, Heatwave to Ease, Says Weather Officials 

School children use umbrellas to cover themselves from the rain as they walk to school, in New Delhi, India May 2, 2025. (Reuters)
School children use umbrellas to cover themselves from the rain as they walk to school, in New Delhi, India May 2, 2025. (Reuters)

India's monsoon has revived after stalling for more than a fortnight, and rains are set to cover central parts of the country this week, bringing relief from the heatwave in the grain-growing northern plains, two senior weather officials said on Monday.

The monsoon, the lifeblood of the country's nearly $4 trillion economy, delivers nearly 70% of the rain that India needs to water farms and replenish aquifers and reservoirs.

Nearly half of India's farmland, which has no irrigation, depends on the annual June-September rains for crop growth.

The monsoon has revived after a fortnight as a favorable weather system has developed in the Bay of Bengal, which would help the monsoon to cover entire central India this week, an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) told Reuters.

Monsoon rains on Monday covered almost the entire western state of Maharashtra and entered into neighboring Gujarat and central state of Madhya Pradesh, the official said.

The Monsoon's onset over Kerala occurred on May 24 and quickly covered southern, northeastern and some parts of western India ahead of its usual schedule, but its progress has stalled since May 29, according to an IMD chart that tracked the monsoon's progress.

The monsoon has gained the required momentum, and heavy rainfall is likely over west coast, central and some parts of north India in next ten days, which will significantly bring down temperatures, another weather official said.

India has received 31% lower rainfall than average in the first half of June, but in the second half the country is set to receive above average rainfall, the official said.

Monsoon rains are set to progress quickly in the next few days and could cover most parts of the country before the end of June, the official said.

Summer rains usually fall in Kerala around June 1 before spreading nationwide by mid-July, allowing farmers to plant crops such as rice, corn, cotton, soybeans and sugarcane.