The five Olympic gold medals won by Finnish running great Paavo Nurmi will be returned to Paris and displayed at an exhibition next month marking the century of his unique achievement at the 1924 Paris Games, World Athletics said Monday.

To mark the Paris 2024 Games this summer, the medals will be displayed to the public from March 27 to September 22 at the Monnaie de Paris on the left bank of the river Seine. They will form part of a larger exhibition of Olympic medals called “D’or, d’argent, de bronze” (Of gold, silver and bronze) organised by the museum of the French mint.

Nicknamed ‘The Flying Finn’, the middle and long distance runner who has won a total of nine Olympic gold medals, was one of the first superstars of the sport. His five medals are the most athletics golds ever won at a single Games.

“During the year of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, we are celebrating the outstanding achievements of The Flying Finn Paavo Nurmi,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said. “As famous as the Hollywood stars of his day, lauded by US presidents, Nurmi was the first truly global sports star.”

World Athletics said Nurmi’s grandson Mika Nurmi and Finland’s four-time Olympic champion Lasse Viren — a long-distance running great himself — will be honoured guests at the March 27 ceremony.

The July 26-August 11 Paris Games are followed by the August 28 to September 8 Paralympics.

Tower reopens

The Eiffel Tower reopened to visitors on Sunday after a six-day closure because of striking employees demanding better maintenance of the historic landmark, showing traces of rust, and salary hikes.

The operator of the 1,083-foot) tower said in a statement it reached an agreement with unions representing the workers after promising to allocate an “ambitious €380 million (about $412 million) investment by 2031” for renovation work.

The 135-year-old tower will feature prominently in the Paris Games and the following Paralympics. The Olympic and Paralympic medals in Paris are being embedded with pieces from a hexagonal chunk of iron taken from the historic landmark.