A small piece of polished iron from the iconic Paris monument has been inlaid into each gold, silver and bronze medal that will hang around the necks of the Olympic champions.
Games organizers unveiled Thursday the medals that will be awarded to the winners of the Olympics and Paralympics next summer.
By entering the history of the Olympics, the medalists will also bring home, nothing more, nothing less, than a little piece of France, in this case a few grams of the Eiffel Tower.
A sacred tribute to the Iron Lady, witness to the Games organized in Paris in 1900 and 1924.
The pieces of iron embedded in the center of the Olympic medals each weigh 18 grams. They were cut from beams and other elements removed from the Eiffel Tower during numerous renovations, according to Joachim Roncin, head of design at the Paris Games organizing committee.
The Eiffel Tower parts were then polished and varnished for their second incarnation.
The medals are stamped “Paris 2024” with the Games logo – which resembles a flame or the face of a woman with a chic bob haircut. The five Olympic rings are also engraved on the iron of the Olympic medals. The Paralympic logo composed of three “Agitos” is stamped on the medals of the Paralympic Games which will be held just after the Olympics, from August 28 to September 8.
The hexagonal shape of the iron coins represents France.
It was the famous Parisian jeweler Chaumet who designed the medals. While Olympic medals traditionally tend to be quite plain, this year organizers opted for something flashier. For the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the Chinese had jade discs inlaid into their medals.