As you can imagine, winning an Olympic medal is a thrill for any athlete. But medal winners in Paris’s 2024 Summer Olympics took home pieces of the city’s greatest landmark in theirs. Each Gold Silver and Bronze medal had pieces of the Eiffel Tower embedded in it.
The medal DESIGNS HAD FOUR symbolic ELEMENTS.
- A hexagonal center – The French refer to the shape of their country as the Hexagon.
- A Radiance – A round crinkled metal background, designed to sparkle in the light.
- A claw setting to secure the medals used a pattern found in Eiffel Tower rivets.
- And the medal’s cloth ribbons showcased the Eiffel Tower’s latticework design.
BUT THE HEXAGONAL CENTER OF THE MEDAL WAS THE MOST SYMBOLIC OF ALL.
Each medal hexagon contained iron fragments – 18 grams of iron — removed from the Eiffel Tower during renovations during the 20th century. The iron pieces were cut from girders and other components swapped out of the tower during repairs, and stored for safekeeping,
The head of Olympic design said, “We realized that there’s one symbol known across the world, the Eiffel Tower.” “We said … ‘Hey, what if we approached the Eiffel Tower Operating Co. to see if it’s possible to get a bit of the Eiffel Tower to integrate into the medal?’” The company agreed, and “the dream became reality.”
THE FRENCH MINT CREATED THE MEDALS
5,084 in total – approximately 2,600 for the Olympics, 2,400 for the Paralympics.
PIECES OF THE EIFFEL TOWER IN OLYMPIC MEDALS – A UNIQUE IDEA!
Unfortunately after being exposed to human skin and sweat, the backs of some of those medals began to discolor. Hopefully their faces will retain their looks and character for years to come.
Off Ramp Co-Hosts Bob & Marcia Smith at the Eiffel Tower in 1998
