[Watch] Paris Olympics and Paralympics medals unveiled, along with the special Eiffel Tower connection
The medals for Paris Olympics 2024 and Paris Paralympics 2024 were revealed on Thursday, February 8, by the event organizers. The event took place at the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee in the French capital.
The medals include the traditional format of gold, silver, and bronze medals for all the podium finishers in the two quadrennial events.
The medals, which are hexagon-shaped tokens, will be adorned with a piece of iron origin from the cynosure Eiffel Tower. Some of the elements from the Eiffel Tower were removed and preserved when the monumental tower went through refurbishment in the 20th century.
Watch the video here:
Paris Organizing Committee president Tony Estanguet explained the idea behind the design of the distinctive medals for the Paris Games.
"There was a huge amount done to try to bring together these precious metals - gold, silver and bronze - with the most precious metal in the Eiffel Tower, the jewel in the French crown. So what’s specific about the 2024 medals is that meshing together, that fusion, that alloy,” he was quoted as saying by Olympics.com.
“What’s impactful for this year will be having a part of the original Eiffel Tower metal, the iron, in these various medals, and so this is what we wanted to do, to infuse all these 2024 athletes with that metal," Estanguet added.
Things to look at on Paris medals
According to a report from the news agency Reuters, the Paralympic Games medals feature a view from underneath and are stamped with Paris 2024 braille. Monnaie de Paris, a French mint, has produced 5,084 such medals.
The back of the medals depicts the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, who is seen charging forward with the Acropolis to one side and the Eiffel Tower to another.
The medal is made of 18-gram tokens of iron shaped in hexagons. The iron is present in the center of all three medals surrounded by rings, an indication of spreading rays outwards.