The medals set to be awarded to athletes of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will feature iron from the Eiffel Tower, officials announced Thursday.
“In keeping with tradition, the medals are gold, silver and bronze,” a release posted to the Olympics website read.
“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 choice to include the Eiffel Tower metal was the product of Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee.
“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,” Estanguet said.
“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.”
After the decision was made, the challenge of crafting the medals fell to expert jewelry maker Chaumet, the release noted.
The iron from the Eiffel Tower is cut into a hexagon, a geometric shape evoking French mobilization, and it will remain its original color.
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“Placed in the center and embossed with the emblem of the Paris 2024 Games, this piece of heritage fits elegantly among the gold, silver and bronze to give the medals a two-tone effect,” the release read.
At least 5,084 medals have been made for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic games.
