PARIS - The Olympic rings will be displayed on the Eiffel Tower during the Paris Olympics, the company that manages the monument and the organising committee of the Games told AFP on Monday.

The five rings representing the five continents and the universal nature of sport will be installed in the next few weeks on the side of the tower that faces the river Seine, according to Jean-Francois Martins, the head of the tower's managing company Sete.

Le Parisien newspaper, which first reported that the rings will be displayed on the 300-metre (985-feet) tower, said the rings will be situated between the first and second levels.

The Olympics will begin on July 26 with an unprecedented opening ceremony on the Seine.

Instead of parading through the athletics stadium at the start of the Games, teams are set to sail down the Seine on a flotilla of boats in front of up to 500,000 spectators.

The Olympic flame will burn in the Tuilleries Gardens, near the Louvre.

Agencies