Gold, silver and… iron? Olympic medals get a piece of the Eiffel Tower
Athletes who win medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris won't just win gold, silver or bronze. Their medals will also feature a piece of iron – wrought iron to be precise, sourced from the Eiffel Tower itself.
Games organizers said Thursday that each of the 5,084 medals made for the Paris events will be decorated on one side with a hexagonal piece of iron recovered from the French capital's iconic monument.
“This exceptional object had to meet another very strong symbol of our country and our capital,” said Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, at an event to unveil the design of the medals in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. Paris where several Olympic events will take place.
Mr Estanguet said the iron used in the medals will be recycled fragments from the Eiffel Tower's original 1889 construction, which had been sitting unused in a warehouse after renovation work.
Stripped of their brown paint and polished, each fragment will weigh 18 grams, or just over half an ounce, and be shaped into a hexagon – the shape of France.
The hexagons, bearing the inscription “Paris 2024” and the logo of the Games, will be placed in the medal with claws in the shape of the rivets of the Eiffel Tower, using a technique similar to that used used to set precious gemstones in jewelry. Edges of radiating lines designed to reflect light, a nod to Paris's nickname as the City of Light, surround the hexagons.
“We wanted this medal to be beautiful, we wanted it to be symbolic, and what could be more symbolic than taking home a piece of French heritage,” said Martin Fourcade, five-time Olympic champion and president of the Paris 2024 Athletes. 'Committee, said at the presentation.
“It makes me proud to be French,” says Béatrice Hess, a French former swimmer with 20 Paralympic titles. “It's a gem.”
The designs on the other side of the Olympic medals – which are made from recycled metal and must meet precise specifications from the International Olympic Committee – will vary. They will feature traditional symbols of the Games, including that of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, as well as the Acropolis of Athens, along with a carving of the Eiffel Tower.
The Paralympic Games medals will be different, with a low viewpoint from under the Eiffel Tower and the words 'Paris' and '2024' written in Braille – the writing system for the visually impaired named after Frenchman Louis Braille. Those medals will also have notches on the edges: one for gold, two for silver and three for bronze.
Olympic organizers have long had the option to nod to their country's culture in their medal designs; there were medals at the 2008 Games in Beijing inlaid with a jade disk. However, the announcement from Paris Games organizers appeared to be the first time a city has used fragments of an actual monument.
The medals are manufactured by the Monnaie de Paris – the official Paris Mint – and are designed by Chaumet, a 244-year-old Paris jewelry company owned by LVMH, Bernard Arnault's French luxury conglomerate. LVMH is one of the largest sponsors of the Games, providing more than $150 million in financing.
Antoine Arnault, one of Mr. Arnault's children and head of communications and image for LVMH, said during Thursday's presentation that “it was a real challenge to work with a piece of the Iron Lady.”
“This is not just a medal that we are awarding today,” he added. “It's a work of art.”
The Eiffel Tower is perhaps France's most recognized monument approximately 7 million visitors per year. Various events during the Paris Games will be held in a temporary stadium on the Champs de Mars, the park leading to the tower.