The 2024 Olympic medals are unique. They contain a piece of the Eiffel Tower, and Martin Fourcade participated in their development

The Paris Mint will mint 5,084 awards

February 8 Organizing Committee of the 2024 Olympicswhich will take place in France this summer, presented the medals for the upcoming Games. This time the organizers surprised: the awards will not only be “traditionally gold, silver and bronze”, but also will be decorated with real fragments of the Eiffel Tower. Five-time Olympic biathlon champion Martin Fourcade participated in their development. We tell you what we know.

If you look at the obverse of the awards, it is almost no different from the “classic” Olympic medals. The goddess of victory Nike, the Panathinaikos stadium, the Acropolis, the Olympic rings, the inscription “Games of the XXXIII Olympiad – Paris 2024” crown the Greek deity. It’s simple here: starting with the 2006 Games, the IOC decided that at each Summer Olympics, all these stylistic elements would be present on the obverse of the medal, emphasizing the Greek origin of the competition. However, Paris managed to achieve a small victory by adding its own personality – the Eiffel Tower in the right corner.

Photo – olympics.com

But the reverse of the medals is much more interesting and original. It contains particles of the Eiffel Tower – a symbol of Paris and France. According to representatives of the Organizing Committee of the Games, this tinned iron is part of the elements of the monument, dating back to 1889, when the tower was actually built, and removed during the previous renovation. “We wanted the medalists to keep a small piece of France as close to their hearts as possible,” says the Organizing Committee’s Athletes’ Commission, headed by the outstanding French biathlete Marter Fourcade.

The design of the medals was developed jointly with the team of the Chaumet Place Vendôme jewelry house, a famous company with a rich history. It is reported that the entire process took several years, and the jewelers even worked with the archives of Gustave Eiffel.

“It was a very long process, almost three years,” admitted Fourcade. — We went through different phases, reflections, exchanges of opinions, making sketches. There were many prototypes of shapes, sizes, colors… I find the final version very successful, elegant, shining. It symbolizes Paris well and is original. It stands out among the medals of the rest of the Summer Olympics.”

According to the President of the Organizing Committee of the 2024 Games, three-time Olympic champion Tony Estangue, the gold medal will be made of silver coated with a 6-gram layer of gold, the silver medal will be made of pure silver, and the bronze medal will be made of red brass. A total of 5,084 awards will be produced.

Source: Sportarena

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