On Thursday, February 8, the Olympic and Paralympic medals were unveiled. And, whether they are gold, silver or bronze, they will all contain a very special piece of metal that was once part of the Eiffel Tower.
Officials have unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals that will be awarded at this summer’s Olympic games in Paris, and each one contains a unique souvenir: a fragment of scrap iron from the Eiffel Tower.
“It’s the opportunity for the athletes to bring back a piece of Paris with them,” Thierry Reboul, creative director of Paris 2024, told reporters last week, per BBC News. “The absolute symbol of Paris and France is the Eiffel Tower.”
Every individual medal has at its center a hexagon of iron from the tower. They all come from pieces removed from the structure during different renovations over the last century. The pieces of metal were carefully preserved, and the organization in charge of the Eiffel Tower’s preservation donated them to the Paris Olympic committee to create the unique medal designs.
Jean-François Martins, President of the Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel, said at the unveiling that he hoped the athletes would appreciate the “unforgettable souvenir of Paris” made from “this unique metal.”
The Olympic and Paralympic medals were designed by craftworkers at the famous Chaumet House of Jewellery, which is part of the luxury LVMH group. It’s the first time in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that a jeweller has designed the medals.
“The Maison Chaumet creative team has conceived each medal as a jewel, taking inspiration from the Parisian craftsmanship of its legendary Place Vendôme workshops and illustrating the vocation shared by all the Houses in our group: the ability to make people dream,” said Antoine Arnault, of LVMH Image & Environment. “We hope that each athlete will enjoy wearing and admiring the medal as much as we enjoyed creating it for them.”
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will run from July 26 until Aug. 11, and the Paralympic Games from Aug. 28 through Sept. 8.
