By IOC Media
The secret behind the exceptional project behind the Olympic and Paralympic medals for Paris 2024 has now been revealed.
The medals awarded to athletes at the upcoming Games were unveiled on Thursday 8 February at the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee.
In keeping with tradition, the medals are gold, silver and bronze. However, unlike any of the approximately 36,600 medals that have been awarded since Athens 1896, the first modern Olympic Games, these will each be adorned with a small piece of Paris and a symbol of the country of France: the Eiffel Tower.
The decision came from a desire to make these objects unique and singular, as Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, explains.
“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…”
“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.”
It was a challenge taken up by Chaumet, the expert jewellery maker known worldwide for their astonishing creations.
