Paris 2024 medals. (Courtesy: @TonyEstanguet/X)
The Olympic and Paralympic medals for the upcoming Games were unveiled at the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee on Friday. It also revealed the secret behind the making of the Paris 2024 medals. Following the tradition, the medals unveiled were gold, silver, and bronze.
However, unlike the 36,600 medals awarded since Athens 1896, the first modern Olympics, these medals will be adorned with a small piece of a Paris and a symbol of the French capital: the Eiffel Tower. The decision to add these details came into the fore to make the medals unique, as Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, explains.
Each of these medals contains a piece of precious metal from the Eiffel Tower and the jewel in the French crown. That, itself, makes these medals even more precious.
“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.”
In each of these medals, the original iron from the Eiffel Tower has been cut into hexagon, recalling the historic mobilisation of the country to offer to the historic Olympic and Paralympic Games. An emblem of the Paris 2024 is placed in the center, giving a two-tone effect.
There are thin lines engraved on the same side at irregular interval around the iron hexagon. These rays brings a shine to the medal which is far from smooth.
Paris 2024: Key Stats And Components In Paris 2024 Olympic And Paralympic Medals
- 5,084 medals produced
- 85mm in diameter
- 9.2mm thick
- 18g of iron from the Eiffel Tower
- 529g: the weight of the gold medal
- 525g: the weight of the silver medal
- 455g: the weight of the bronze medal
